Right There With You
by Fade Into Color
Summary: In this world every person has a blissful, passionate soul bond with their soulmate. It just makes it a little difficult to find one another when there's year between them instead of countries. Slash- StevexTony. Slight AU set in MCU. COMPLETE! Sequel coming soon.
1. If The Sun Stops Burning

**Right There With You**

**Author's Note**: This is based off a prompt from the kinkmeme where soulmates meet over the course of The Avengers. It just hit me so hard and I needed to write it. Thus this has been created. This is set in MCU but the soul bond will act as a subuniverse, leading some canon situations to fit. Any and all critique is welcome, and thank you in advance for reading this story.

**Notes for this chapter**: This is a typical set up chapter. It dives into the canon of both Iron Man films and Captain America: The First Avenger as a way to set up the 'subuniverse' that will be introduced as we travel into The Avengers MCU.

**Disclaimer: **I do not claim to own anything. All rights are that of Marvel, this was written as a form of entertainment.

**Chapter 1  
If The Sun Stops Burning**

Everyone has a soul that matches theirs, a soul bond. Unfortunately, it is very uncommon for someone to find their other half. The only way to feel the bond that has been buzzing in the back of your head for most of your life, is to actually meet. The bond will manifest with the first meeting and what sparks it is different for everyone. It could be direct eye contact, a shake of the hand or even being in the same room.

Most give up on finding their soulmates when they've been waiting than they wanted to. They eventually settled down with someone who gave up as well.

There's a chance you might never have that blissful, passionate soul bond. You could be separated by towns, cities, countries, or even worse?

Time.

-  
**1928**

"There is someone there for you Stevie, there always will be," his mother held him to her chest. Steve had just woken up from an asthma attack and It took a little longer than normal to calm down.

Blue eye stared back into marching of his mother, hope hidden around the wonder. Steve always loved hearing stories of people finding their soul mates, the ones who were able to anyway.

"Was Pop your bond, mama?"

Sarah Rogers gave the small boy a tiny squeeze before nodding. "Still is Steve. Even in the next journey you'll always be able to know your soulmate is out there, takes a lot to break a soul bond."

Steve looked down at his hands but quickly looked back to his mother, pointing to his chest. "You feel it in ya heart, right? 'Cause that's where it's the strongest?"

She smiled down at the boy. "Yes. The heart of a soul bond is almost invincible"

Steve smiled at that, leaning his head against his mother's thin shoulder. They sat in a comfortable silence for a few moments. Sarah had thought Steve to fallen asleep but still smiled when he looked up at her with drowsy eyes.

"How did you know, mama?" He asked as Sarah got up from her chair, walking in the direction of Steve's bed.  
"Know what Stevie?"

"That Pop was the one?"

Sarah set him down on the bed, letting him lay down and covered him with a ratty blanket. "It's different for every person Stevie. When you find yours, you'll know what I'm talking about."

Steve responded with a slight pout but he knew better than to go against his mother, Sarah kissed him on the forehead and turned, whispering a soft "goodnight", hoping that her son would be a little more lucky than her and Joseph.

-  
**1980**

Tony Stark sat on the couch in the main living room, watching his father walk out the door. Probably another trip to search for 'The Captain.' Tony doesn't have the greatest relationship with his father, its not fair that he rather spend time searching for an ice cube than spend time with his son.

He didn't notice his mother had walked in and sat down until he found himself being pulled to he side. He leaned into the embrace and rested his head against her shoulder.

"Bet you wish you had a better soulmate, don't ya ma?" he mumbled, looking up at his mother.

Maria gave him a small smile. "He's not my soulmate."

Tony sat up straight and looked at his mother. "What do you mean?"

Maria sighed and rested her hands on her lap. "We both didn't have the time to see ours out. We met at some gala, had a few drinks. The next morning, we both decided to give up looking for the right, and try us out instead."

"But dad said you were his soulmate. All Stark men find their soulmates"

Maria raised an eyebrow and sighed. "One thing to remember about your father, Anthony, he always lies."

"Do you think I'll find mine?"

Maria responded with a grin. "If you keep looking Tony, I bet you will."

-  
**1943**  
As the years passed, Steve Rogers hope of finding his soulmate diminished. In the years it has been since his mother died, Steve has only known one person that have found their bonded and it was his best friend Bucky.

It more than likely helped out that Bucky was always looking for double dates for Steve and himself. This time around, Connie, her name was, just happened to be it.

He was happy for Connie and for Bucky. For everything that Bucky's done for him in the past few years, he's incredibly thankful. Bucky deserves it.

Especially when he helps him out with situations like this.

Steve's mouth ran before his mind could tell him to shut up and he found himself in the back alley, getting punched and kicked by a guy at least two sizes bigger than him. Thankfully, Bucky had come and punched the guy out. Steve was surprised to see Bucky in his dress uniform, shipping out tomorrow.

"I should be going with you," Steve whispered as he rubbed the dirt off from his hands and arms.

Bucky didn't respond as he pulled his arm around Steve's shoulder, pulling his best friend into his right side and the two began walking out of the alley.

"Come on man, my last night. Gotta get you cleaned up."

"Where are going?"

"The future," Bucky responded, handing Steve a folded up newspaper. He stopped so that he could read the title. "World Exposition of Tomorrow." He looked up at Bucky.

Bucky grinned and nodded, gesturing for Steve to continue so they could get back to their apartment and get Steve cleaned up.

On the way to the Expo was when Steve asked the question he's been meaning to for a while.

"How did it work with Connie?"

Bucky raised an eyebrow, looking to his friend. "What do you mean?"

"What lit the spark, I guess. Ma said there something about a spark when you meet your soulmate," Steve put his hands in pockets, staring ahead trying to avoid looking at Bucky. It was always seemed like such a personal question to ask, but it was something he'd been wondering since Bucky announce he had found Connie.

Bucky grinned. "Believe it or not, it was that night we went dancing."

"The one where I almost got pneumonia again?"

"Yeah. Guess I found the right partner."

He smiled at Steve, who returned it. "Don't worry bud, you're gonna find yours."

"What if I don't?"

Bucky snorted. "I don't see what the problem is, you're about to be the last eligible man in New York. You know there's three and a half million women here?"

"Bucky!" Connie was calling to them a few feet away, another girl next to her.

"Really, Bucky? Again?" Steve let out a small groan.

"It could be Bonnie, man. You'll never know until you meet her."

Steve sighed and looked from the girl next to Connie, to Bucky. "What did you tell her about me?"

"Only the good stuff," Bucky winked and ran head.

Steve squared his shoulders and walked forward, hoping that Bucky was right.

-  
**2009**

Tony Stark less than gracefully plopped into the seat next to James Rhodes, the amount of alcohol the two had consumed in the flight were catching up to them.

"Do you think you're ever gonna find your soulmate?" Rhodey asked as the smaller man titled towards him, head resting on his shoulder.

"Really Rhodey? This shit again?" Tony mumbled, rubbing a hand over his face.

"It's a legitimate question."

"In that case, no." Tony tried to sit up straight but failed and was leaning against Rhodes once again.

"What makes you say that?"

"My father lies and Stark men DON'T find their soulmates," frowning slightly at the memory of when his mother had first told them. He scraped that thought and looked to the man he was using as a backrest. "What about you?"

"What do you mean about me?"

"Same question, soulmate, soul bond, soul-fuck-" Rhodey quickly cut him off. "No man. I don't think it's gonna happen. But I also think I accepted that when I enlisted."

Tony didn't respond, just gave a simple bond.

"Yeah, I stopped looking too."

-  
**1943**

Steve was sitting at his bed in the barracks, reading while the others were off doing something that he really didn't care about. He's still amazed that he was even here.

Dr. Erskine had found him at the Expo and put him through to bootcamp. Sure, he's been having trouble keeping up but at least he can prove the little guy could do something to.

There was knock on the wall, causing him to look up from his book. He smiled when he saw it was Dr. Erskine.

"May I?" he asked. He was holding a bottle in one hand and two glasses in the other.

"Yeah." Steve sat up straighter, closing his book and placing it next to him.

"Can't sleep?" Dr. Erskine unrolled the mattress from the bed across from him.

"Got the jitters, I guess," Steve gave him a small smile.

"Me too."

"Can I ask you a question or two?" Steve looked at the man across from him.

"Of course."

"Why me?"

Dr. Erskine was silent for a moment and then looked to the bottle in his hands. "This is from Augsburg. My city. So many people forget that the first country the Nazis invaded was their own. You know, after the last war, my people struggled. They felt weak. They felt small. And then Hitler comes along with the marching and the big show and the flags. And he hears of me. My work. And he finds me. He says, You. He says, You will make us strong. Well, I am not interested. So he sends the head of Hydra, his research division. A brilliant scientist by the name of Johann Schmidt. Now, Schmidt is a member of the inner circle and he is ambitious. He and Hitler share a passion for occult power and Teutonic myth."

"Hitler uses his fantasies to inspire his followers. But for Schmidt, it is not fantasy. For him, it is real. He has become convinced that there is a great power hidden in the earth, left here by the gods, waiting to be seized by a superior man. So when he hears about my formula and what it can do, he cannot resist. Schmidt must become that superior man."

"Did it make him stronger?" Steve asked.

"Yes. But there were other effects." Erskine answered. "The serum was not ready. But more important, the man. The serum amplifies everything that is inside, so good becomes great. Bad becomes worse. This is why you were chosen. Because a strong man who has known power all his life may lose respect for that power, but a weak man knows the value of strength. And knows compassion."

"Thanks, I think," Steve said with a smirk.

"You had another question?"

"Does it affect the bond?"

"I assume you're speaking of the soul bond," he asked. Steve nodded. "Science can't interfere with it. Nothing can. You have nothing to worry about Steven."

"Did you ever find yours?"

Dr. Erskine gave a small smile before nodding. "I am only of the lucky few, , I left Germany before I found out what happened. I figured after the war I'll return and search"

"Well, hopefully I can make that happen sooner," Steve smiled.

Dr. Erskine matched it. He started gesturing towards the wines and glasses. "Get it, get it. Whatever happens tomorrow, you must promise me one thing. That you will stay who you are, not a perfect soldier, but a good man." He tapped Steve twice on his chest, right above his heart.

Steve smiled as he handed a glass to the doctor.

"To the little guys." he said.  
Erskine chuckled as he and Steve clicked glasses. Just as they were about to drink, the doctor quickly stopped Steve.

"No, no. Wait, wait. What am I doing? No, you have procedure tomorrow. No fluids." he said and poured Steve's glass into his own.

"Alright. We'll drink it after."

"No, I don't have procedure tomorrow. Drink it after? I drink it now."

-  
**2009**

Tony wasn't sure how much time has passed since he woke up with that car battery attached to his chest. How long he's been in this cave. Was he going to die in this cave? Would he and this man, Yensin, be able to live.

He does owe Yensin though, if it weren't for him and the car battery, Tony most likely would be dead from the shrapnel that was trying to pierce his heart.

The two of them were working together, having formulated a plan to use what scrap of Stark weapons the Ten Rings had left to them to build weapons.

Building a suit of armor just seemed like a better idea.

"You got a family?" Tony had asked Yensin one night.

"Yes, and I will see them when I leave here."

"Bonded?" It just seemed like the right question to ask. The unbonded couldn't tell if someone was bonded or not, but he was curious.

"Yes, I am lucky." Yensin sighed and looked to Tony. "And you, Stark?"

Tony looked down, and shook his head. "No."

"So, you're a man who has everything, but has nothing."

Tony didn't respond. Didn't think he needed to. Those words were going to stick with him though, thats something he would bet on.

The Ten Rings must've caught onto their plan, as they were attempting their getaway, Yensin bought Tony some time by chasing the the terrorists with a machine gun.

By the time Tony caught up to him, Yensin had been wounded. Tony approached him, now in the armor, and knelt down next to him.

"We gotta go. Come on, move with me. We got a plan, and we're going to stick to it," Tony pleaded to the hurt man.

"This was always the plan Stark."

Tony shook his head, trying to keep his emotions at bay. "Come on, you're going to see your family, your soulmate. Get up."

Yensin shook his head slightly. "They say you can feel your bond, even after death. My family is dead Stark. and I'm going to see them now. It's okay, I want this, I want this."

Tony lets that wash over him, remaining silent for a few moments. "Thank you for saving me."

"Don't waste it, don't waste your life Stark."

Tony watch the man slip from the world, knowing no matter what it is out there you go at that time, he's going to his soul bond.

And there's a promise that Tony is going to try his hardest not to break.

**1945**

For a little while, Steve Rogers thought that life had finally worked in his way. Dr. Erskine providing him with a way to finally fight for his country, even if it cost the doctor's life. Steve promised to go on to remain the man he was, and so far he thought he had.

When he thought he lost Bucky to the HYDRA camp, he didn't care if would be discharged from the army, he didn't care if this screwed up the USO tour. All that mattered was that he saved his best friend. And he did. Along with almost 400 other prisoners and led them back to base.

Steve was given his rightful title of Captain, and with the Howling Commandoes, they went to a secret war with HYDRA destroying base after base. Unfortunately, he lost Bucky again. And for real this time. Steve will never forget himself for not grabbing him before he fell. He should've been faster, he's a goddamn super soldier.

Then there was Peggy Carter. The soldier at boot camp who wouldn't take any kind of taunting from American beefheads. The woman whom he had his first decent conversation with. The woman who, with the help of Howard Stark, flew him over enemy lines. The woman who would wait for the war to be over so they could find the right partner.  
Steve thought he would give up his search for Peggy, Peggy was worth it. Both of them are in the army and it would be harder for them to find their soulmate.

Unfortunately, Steve realizes as he takes the controls of the Valkyrie heading to New York, that none of that is going to matter.

Grabbing the radio, he urgently made a call back to the HYDRA base. "Come in. This is Captain Rogers, can you read me?" He tried to keep his breathing in control, this was something that boot camp definitely did not prepare you for.

He let out a quick sigh of relief when Morita's voice came on over the radio. "Captain Rogers, what is your-" Morita's voice was cut off and Peggy's voice came from the radio.

"Steve is that you? Are you alright?"

"Peggy, Schmidt's dead!"

"What about the plane?"

"That's a little harder to explain," he sighed, his hands running over the controls, flipped some switches.

"Give me your coordinates, I can find you a safe landing site."

"There isn't going to be a safe landing, but I can try and force it down." He could feel his heart beating rapidly against his chest.

"I'll get Howard on the line, he'll know what to do."

"There's not enough time. This thing's moving fast and its heading for New York."

New York. Where het Bucky, where he met Dr. Erskine. Where his bonded could possibly be, but none of that mattered at the moment.

He took a deep breath. "I've got to put her in the water."

"Please don't do this, we have time. We can work it out," Peggy's voice pleaded to him.

"Right now I'm in the middle of nowhere. If I wait any longer, a lot of people are gonna die. Peggy, this is my choice."

He reached into his uniform and pulled out his compass, placing it on the control panel in front of him. Opening it up, he took a quick glance at the picture of Peggy before returning to the radio.  
"Peggy?"

"I'm here."

Steve had his gaze set forward, watching as the icebergs and the ocean came into the view.

"I'm gonna need a raincheck on that dance."

"Alright," Peggy responded, her voice cracking slightly. She realized what was going to happen too. "A week, next Saturday. At the Stork Club."

"You got it." The Valkyrie started turning into a forward dive.

"Eight o'clock on the dot. Don't you dare be late. Understood?"

"You know, I still don't know how to dance."

"I'll teach you. Just be there."

"We'll have the band play something slow." Steve held in a breath as the dive sped up, making the Valkyrie shake, he took another glance at the compass. "I'd hate to step on your..."

-  
**2010**

It's been a little over a year since the incident with the Ten Rings and Tony has been trying his hardest to keep his silent promise to Yensin.

It's not his fault that Obie tried to kill him to take over the company.

It's not his fault that the palladium from the arc reactor was slowly poisoning his blood and he was slowly dying. He's been trying to find a substitute but sometimes he's just not that lucky.

It's not his fault Justin Hammer is a jealous douchebag or that Congress is filled with assclowns.

It's not his fault an old friend of his father's son was able to create a similar arc reactor.

He gave Rhodey one of the suits, he gave the company to Pepper. Everything was fine.

Then Nick Fury and his little circus of suited monkeys came along. Okay, sure, that Natas- Natali-, Natashalie was keeping tabs on him. Then he finds out, after twenty years, his father was a member of SHIELD. And then he was basically put under house arrest until he made the new element, but hey, he got to replace his arc reactor and you know, not die.  
Then there was that battle with Hammer's failed attempts at the Iron Man suit, leaded by Vanko. He and Rhodey save the city, Pepper gives back his position of CEO and they get together.

Pepper, at the moment it was Pepper that made him happy. He had long ago expected that he wasn't going to find his soulmate. It's been years, most people his age have found them by now.

With Pepper, everything might be alright.

Maybe, but don't quote him on that. For all he knows those words could come back to bite him. With SHIELD and Fury randomly popping on with The Avengers Initiative, textbook narcissism my ass, you never know.

**To be continued.**


	2. And The World Stops Turning

**Right There With You**

**Author's Note:** I am completely overwhelmed with the feedback on this story. Thank you to everyone. This chapter we'll be getting into the actual Avengers movie with my subuniverse sneaking its way in.

**Disclaimer:** I do not claim to own anything. All rights are that of Marvel, this was written as a form of entertainment.

* * *

**Chapter 2  
And The World Stops Turning**

**May 2nd, 2012  
**  
Steve sat in the apartment that SHIELD had set him up with since him waking up from the ice. The computer, as they call it, they provided him with to get caught up on the history he missed wasn't really helping, he turned the video off and stared at the empty glass before pushing it away and pulling a manilla folder to him.

At the time, he thought it was a good idea to ask SHIELD to find out what had happened to those he left behind in 1945. They collected a small dossier and left it with him, the contents were something he didn't even know he wanted to face yet.

Sighing, he opened the folder to find a small stack of files inside. There weren't many, but he did recognize the first face staring up at him and his heart clenched at the sight of the red 'DECEASED' stamp across the file. Jim Morita. He was quiet but strong, an extremely skilled fighter. One time on during break between Missions, Morita had told him his bonded was waiting for him back in Fresno. Steve hoped he made it home to see her.

The next file was of Farnsworth. The Englishman knew how to make moments seem a little brighter, he was a funny guy and like the rest of the Howling Commandos, excellent soldier.

Setting aside Farnsworth file and looking to the next one, he felt as if his heart and breathing stopped in sync. It was Bucky. That was a scar that hadn't healed yet, probably never would. The giant 'MISSING IN ACTION' stamp across the page didn't help the amount of guilt Steve was already feeling. He's dead, Steve saw him fall, no one could survive that. Steve had asked for information on Connie. She never moved on. That was common though with bonded, like his mother once told him, you're always able to feel your soulmate, even after death.

Steve took a deep breath and placed Bucky's files with the others. The next file was missing the red 'DECEASED' stamp and it was Peggy's. His eyes skimmed over the page. Her phone number was listed. He looked to the phone and back to the file. Peggy probably went on to find her bonded. He didn't want to make any bad memories and set the file aside.

Howard died in 1991 in a plane crash with his wife Maria, leaving behind a company and their son, Anthony. The file under Howard's was Anthony, Tony's info. According to the page he works as a consultant to SHIELD and operates in a suit of armor called Iron Man. Looking at the photo, Steve had a funny feeling, like someone was tickling the back of his brain. It disappeared as quickly as it happened.

* * *

Tony gave a small smile and a wave to Pepper as she got in the elevator with Agent. Things have been going well for him and Pepper lately, the tower was just part of the next step.

Like Tony had told Rhodey, he gave up looking for his bonded a while ago, and he had Pepper now. So, he was good.

Right?

Sighing he looked around at the projections from the files he had been given. Natashlie was among them, he's not surprised though if this is infact about the Avengers Initiative, then she would be a part of it.

He looked around at the others. He recognized Doctor Banner, hell he even talked to that General Ross guy that was trying to kill him or whatever.

Then there was another spy, some guy named after a Norse God, Captain America-

He froze on that one. Looking over the photo of the supposed-dead legend made his actual heart skip a beat and there was no way that was from the shrapnel.

He reached for the glowing blue cube under the picture of the hippie titled 'Loki, ignoring whatever the hell just happened.

"JARVIS?"

"Yes sir?"

"Access SHIELD files. What are they doing with this 'tesseract' and the Norse-wanna be here."

"One moment sir." While JARVIS worked, Tony continued to look over the other files, trying to avoid looking at the old man with steroids.

"Sir."

"What've you got for me JARVIS?"

"From what I've found Director Fury has sent an Agent Romanoff, Captain Rogers along with a few SHIELD agents to Stuttgart, Germany sir. Shall I prepare Mark VI."

Tony grinned. "You know me so well."

"Well, you did create me, sir."

**May 3rd, 2012**

"ETA 20 minutes, Cap," Agent Romanoff's voice came from the cockpit.

Many things have happened in the short few hours for the Captain and he was thankful for the time to think them over.

Director Fury had found him at the gym, asking him about the cube that he thought had been lost when the Red Skull died, but Howard Stark found it on one of his expeditions when they were looking for Steve in the fallen Valkyrie.

Agent Coulson had taken him to the, what were they calling it, SHIELD's helicarrier where he met Doctor Banner. The Doctor was a nice, quiet fellow. Unfortunately, trying to replicate the original super soldier serum didn't change him in the way it did Steve.

And Agent Romanoff was a brilliant dame, sort of reminded him of Peggy, pretty intimidating.

According to Director Fury, a man by the name of Loki had somehow hypnotized a few agents and scientists working with SHIELD on the cube, had taken and the cube and they were now trying to find both.

Which has led them here. They managed to track down Loki in Stuttgart, Germany. Why he was there, Steve wasn't sure. All he knew was that he was supposed to help bring Loki in.

"You're up, Captain." Steve nodded as he walked to the back of the jet and waited for the hatch to be lowered.

* * *

"Here goes nothing," he whispered to himself and made his way towards the location where Loki was last sighted.

"Sir?"

"Yeah JARVIS?"

"We're coming up on Stuttgart now."

This is why he loved the suit, well, one of the many reasons. What would've been more than a twelve hour flight turned to three.

"There is a SHIELD quinjet up ahead sir."

Tony grinned as it came into view. "Patch into their PA JARVIS, "Shoot to Thrill" would be excellent entrance music."  
He swore he heard the AI sigh. "As you wish, sir. Override complete."

"Agent Romanoff, you miss me?"

ACDC was blaring through the German courtyard as two people came into view. Tony quickly disregarded the familiar shield and aimed a repulsor towards the horned one, blasted him away from the man that was on the ground.

"JARVIS, all weapons at the ready," he commanded as he landed. As he stood, all weapons equipped began to appear from various parts from the suit.

"Make your move reindeer games." Everything started to fade away. Well, that works.

"Mr. Stark," a voice came from behind him. Tony didn't turn, that feeling from earlier came back and he doesn't want it to say.

"Captain."

* * *

Steve was at first startled when he heard some strange racket suddenly while fighting Loki and then Iron Man appeared. He was thankful for that, he just wished that Fury had told him. Showed that Stark wanted to make a show.

He was impressed with the armor because the full detail of the suit wasn't fully explained in the dossier that Agent Coulson had given him on the way to the helicarrier. The fact that Stark had built and designed that thing by himself was really impressive.

Grabbing his shield, Steve stood up and walked over to the man, leaving himself a step or two behind. He went to say something but stuttered when that feeling from earlier that day at his apartment appeared. He shook it off once again.

"Mr. Stark," he nodded in his direction even if the man wasn't looking at him.

"Captain," Stark responded, keeping his eyes on Loki.

That feeling? Still not gone.

* * *

Natashalie wasn't happy to see him but that wasn't surprising. Tony decided to hitch a ride back to SHIELD with them since Fury was bound to call him in soon. Plus, the suit needed charging.

He watch Rogers help handcuff Loki up and it wouldn't be crime to say God Bless America, for a ninety year old, Rogers was working it.

That damn feeling hasn't gone away yet, only became more annoying.

Tony didn't say anything or even look at the Captain as he came to stand next to him. He took the helmet off though, Rogers at least deserved to see his handsome face.

As the quinjet took off Tony couldn't help but notice that Rogers couldn't take his eyes off Loki.

"I don't like it," Rogers' voice threw him off. He was supposed to be from a Brooklyn, why does he sound like a damn newscaster.

"What? Rock of Ages giving up so easily?"

"I don't remember it ever being that easy. This guy packs a wallop."

"Still, you are pretty spry for an older fellow. What's your thing, Pilates?"

"What?" Then Rogers finally looks at him. That feeling from before has moved and it feels like his heart is throbbing, he ignores it and looks to Rogers, finally making eye contact.

* * *

So far beyond the suit, Steve wasn't too impressed with Stark but every time he spoke to him, that feeling from earlier came back and now as he makes contact with him it feels like his heart is beating stronger than before.

Stark went to respond but he stopped.

"Are you-"

"What the hell-"

He and Stark had spoken at the same time. There was this new feeling around Steve's heart replacing the beating. It felt like a thread and it was being tugged and being pulled into another direction.

That direction? Right next to him.

Tony Stark was standing next to him.

* * *

That wasn't the shrapnel touching his heart, and it wasn't the familiar feeling of the arc reactor, this was something entirely new, something he has never experienced before. It was like he could feel two hearts beating, a strong beat.

He looked to Rogers. Both of them try to say something but stopped. He looked into the blue eyes of the Captain and that's when he _knew._

"Did we just-" Rogers, _no, _Steve started to say.

"Not now," Tony nervously tipped his head towards Natasha in the cockpit, his eyes darting to Loki. "Later, like, SHIELD Flying Fortress later," he whispered.

Steve nodded. Then things grew silent. It might've been an awkward silence because of what just happened but only two people knew what actually happened.

Then suddenly a large roar of thunder broke the silence, lightening scattered throughout the dark sky. The quinjet started to shake.

"Where is this coming from?" He heard Natasha ask.

Steve had turned to Loki, raising an eyebrow. "What's the matter, scared of a little lightening?"

"I'm not overly fond of what follows."

* * *

Steve was confused, really really confused. That heart pulling seemed normal now and when he looked to Stark, Tony, he's pretty sure he was feeling the same thing.

He's pretty sure he just bonded with Tony Stark.

He was going to say something until he realized that this was probably a private matter. He appreciated that because he has no idea what to do right now.

He looked to Loki, the thunder and lightening scaring someone like him seemed a little odd.

"I'm not overly fond of what follows."

_"What the hell does that mean?" _Steve jumped slightly because that wasn't his voice, and he heard it inside his head.

"Did you just-" He was cut off when a loud thud hit the top of the jet. He watched Tony stick his helmet on, amazed as it resized and seemed to attach to his suit. Pulling on his cowl, he was confused when Tony pushed the button to open the hatch.

"What are you doing?"

* * *

Tony stood in front of Steve as the hatch lowered and what seemed like a Swedish bodybuilder dropped onto it from the top of the jet. He raised his right arm, ready to fire of the repulsor but the giant raised whatever the hell was in his hand and sent him flying backwards into Steve.

Hoping that he didn't break anything, he climbed off Steve as he watched the blonde bimbo grab Loki by the neck and fly, yes, fly off the quinjet.

"We'll talk later," he whispered to Steve as he walked to the back of the jet. "Now there's that guy."

"Another Asgardian?" Romonaff called from the cockpit.

"That guy's a friendly?" Steve asked as he got up.

"Doesn't matter. If he frees Loki or kills him, the Tesseract' lost." He got closer to the edge.

"Stark, we need a plan of attack!"

_"Don't go yet." _Did he just hear Steve in his head. He quickly shook it off.

"I have a plan. Attack." And with that, he went flying after the two demigods.


	3. I'll Be Right Here With You

**Right There With You**

**Author's Note: ** Thank you to everyone who's even glanced at this. Taking this on has been a project definitely and I just wanted to thank everyone for the positive feedback.

**Notes on this chapter: **Bruce Banner and Tony Stark know a lot of science words that I don't.

**Disclaimer: ** I do not own a single thing.

**Chapter 3  
I'll Be Right Here With You**

After finding Thor wasn't in a gaming mood and had a sort of same goal with the tesseract, they were finally able to bring Loki back to the helicarrier. It had been a little awkward, mainly between Tony and Steve since Tony doesn't want to talk about, well that thing, until they can be alone.

Loki was escorted to by a squad of armored SHIELD agents to a cell in the bowels of the ship. Agent Coulson had met them on the landing strip. Thor wanted to take a few moments to catch up with 'The Son of Coul' as Agent Romonaff went to grab Doctor Banner from his lab.

"Follow me," Tony whispered, grabbing Steve's cowl and dragging him until he followed.

"Where are we going? We need to report-" Tony quickly cut him off as they walked throughthe winding hallways of the helicarrier.

"I need to get my suit off so that I can fix the damage that Hercules caused with his precious hammer, and we need to have a talk."

Steve remained silent and continue to follow Tony until they reached what seemed to be cargo deck.

"JARVIS, strip me."

Steve didn't say anything since he really didn't know who or what a Jarvis was, but his eyes widened as Tony spread his arms out and the Iron Man suit started to removed itself from Tony's body.

"So, Capsicle," Tony's voice broke him from his awe and he looked up to Tony, staring into his brown eyes. "I'm pretty sure we both know went down back there.."

Steve nodded. "Yeah, we bonded." His voice was barely beyond a whisper. He switched his gaze towards the floor, crossing his arms across his chest.

"Yes. So, now we need to figure out a few things." Steve didn't have to look up to know Tony was staring at him.

"Like what?"

"Well, first of all, your soulmate is male. I know bonding was uncommon back in your day, and it was even more rare for them to be of the same sex, hell it was illegal. So you should be freaking out."

Steve shook his and looked up. "No, that never bothered me. Ma always told me it didn't matter, the universe chose the souls to be together for a reason."

"Awesome." Tony clapped and then rubbed his hands together. "That definitely makes things a little easier. So, the next thing is I think for now, we should keep this to ourselves."

Steve raised an eyebrow at that. It's not that he objected, he just wanted to know "Why?"

Tony shrugged as if it was obvious, it probably is but Steve wasn't really picking up on it. "This is obviously new for us, I can't even imagine what you're feeling right now. Well, I actually could but that instinct or whatever hasn't shown up yet considering how long it has been since the whole thing happened."

"Anyway, we really don't have the time to go over everything right now that we need to."

Steve nodded. "Right."

"So, we keep acting like nothing has happened. We'll call it an act. I'm just hoping you're acting has improved Star Spangled man." He grinned slightly as a small blush appeared on Steve's face.

"What about the effects of the bond?" Steve asked. "The empathy, the instincts, the tele-"

"-pathy." Tony finished for him. "Yeah, that part freaked me out too."

"STARK!" Both men jumped and turned to see Agent Coulson entering. "What's going on in here?" His eyes bouncing back and forth between the two.

Tony quickly glanced at Steve, who nodded in understanding before turning back to Coulson.

"Nothing Agent, just getting the old man here caught up on somethings."

Coulson rolled his eyes and looked to Steve. "Captain Rogers, I must request that you make your way to the bridge. The others are there. Director Fury has a feed for his interrogation of Loki."

Steve didn't say anything and left, leaving Coulson to glare at Tony.

"What?"

"Change quickly, then you're coming with me. I'm supposed to escort you."

"So, about the girl cellist in Portland..."

* * *

Right now Steve was thankful for his eidetic memory as he made his way towards the bridge, his mind constantly replaying the conversation he just had over. He could understand the reasons why they needed to lay low on this for now. They didn't have the time.

They had their orders and they needed to follow them.

For now.

He knew the stories of those who bonded with their soulmates, the feelings that the bond could cause. The heart tugging wasn't even the beginning of it.

As many things are, bonds are different depending on the people. His mother would tell him stories of her and his father, how she knew how he was feeling before he wrote home to her. How before the war he knew when she was feeling ill from working too much. How she knew he wouldn't be coming home before the condolence letter was even written.

Steve loved hearing Bucky tell him how after dancing with Connie for the first time, the bond slowly had them fall in love instead of all at once.

This was something that Steve never thought he'd get the chance to experience, even if the bond was slowly trying to pull him back in the direction of cargo bay.

"Stark already scare you off?" He jumped slightly as Maria Hill fell into step with him. He hadn't even realized someone was with him.

"Excuse me?"

"Agent Romonaff told me Stark had dragged you off somewhere, thought I'd come and try to help."

"Oh," Steve ducked his head and rubbed at the back of his neck. "Ah, thanks, I think."

Hill didn't say anything as the two entered the helicarrier's bridge where Agent Romonaff was seated at the glass table. Doctor Banner stood a few feet behind her, Thor standing at the head of the table, turned slightly away from them.

"Director Fury is interrogating Loki, wanted us to watch the feed," Hill explained as Steve took a seat.

Still amazed with the modern technology, he watched as Fury and Loki had a sort-of stand off from the SHIELD cell.

"How desperate are you? You call on such lost creatures to defend you," Loki's words were nothing short of mocking. Steve quickly shook off the small comparison to Schmidt, the power of the Cube probably effecting both of them in the same way.

The taunts continued to back and forth for a few moments, not really heading in any direction.

"We'll, let me know if 'real power' wants a magazine or something," and the video cut as Director Fury walked out.

The room was silent for a few moments, the occupants taking in what had been said. Steve wondered if Tony and Agent Coulson had seen the feed.

_"Yep, on our way to the bridge now." _Steve has had forgotten about the telepathy part of the bond.

"He really grows on you, doesn't he?" Doctor Banner was the first to break the silence.

"Loki's gonna drag this out. So, Thor. What's his play?" Steve looked up at him.

The Asgardian turned slowly, one armed across his chest and a worrisome frown upon his face. "He has an army called the Chitauri. They're not of Asgard, nor any known world. He means to lead them against your people. They will win him Earth in return, I suspect, for the Tesseract."

Steve let out an annoyed sigh and looked to Natasha. This was something else he hadn't been warned about. "An army. From outer space."

"So, he's building another portal. That's what he needs Erik Selvig for."

"Selvig?" Thor asked.

"He's an astrophysicist."

"He's a friend."

Natasha had a grim look on her face as she spoke. "Loki has him under some kind of spell, along with one of our own."

"I don't know why Loki took him. He's not leading an army from here," Steve looked from Thor to Bruce, hoping to get an answer.

"I don't think we should focus on Loki. That guy's brain is a bag full of cats. You could smell the crazy on him."

Steve was now just getting more lost. He was a tactician, he worked better when he facts presented directly in front of him. It didn't help that the recent bonding was mixed in with all this.

"Have care of how you speak. Loki is beyond reason but he is of Asgard and he is my brother."

Well, that was unexpected.

"He killed eighty people in two days," Natasha explained, leaning against the tables on her arms.

Thor looked to her with an apologetic look upon his face. "He's adopted."

Steve ignore Thor as he looked to the open archway across the room. The now familiar tug of the bond was getting stronger which meant Tony was getting closer. He remembered Bucky saying something about how he could never show up late for dates with Connie the first few weeks after they bonded, she could always tell when he was coming. This is what he must've meant.

Steve was once again was pulled from from his thoughts as Bruce spoke up. "I think it's about the mechanics. Iridium...what do they need the iridium for?"

"It's a stabilizing agent." Steve's heart fluttered slightly as Tony entered the room with Agent Couslon, whispering something before walking towards the table.

* * *

Tony was only half listening as Agent rambled on next to him, his mind anywhere but a cellist in Portland right now.

He told Steve that they would discuss this whole bond thing later when they both had the time but that was only half the truth. He wouldn't admit it out loud, partly because he was pretty sure Jarvis would record it as blackmail for later but that was beside the point.

The actual reason Tony wanted to wait? He was scared. Tony Stark doesn't _do _scared, he's Tony Stark.

Then again up until an hour ago Tony Stark was an unbonded, genius billionaire kicking a Norse god's ass. Now he was bonded. Not only bonded but bonded to Captain America.

He was already listing the things that he would be experiencing as the time passed. Given that the strong tugging of the bond on his heart already felt normal helped him guess what would be happening between the two.

The short moments of telepathy already hinted towards the strength of the bond between him and Steve. It was a little easier to find your bonded nowadays with technology where it depended on the bond strength to find them. The stronger the bond the more there was.

The last reported case with telepathy had been about twenty years ago and the bond strength was something of legend. The bonded could communicate being even distances apart. Telepathy wasn't that unheard of in bonds but the strength of it varied between single words of thought or full on conversations.

Telepathy wouldn't be the only thing. With time the bond empathy would grow, slowly bringing the telempathy with it.

Neither things were something Tony was looking forward too.

"Are you listening to me Stark?"

Tony blinked and looked to Coulson, poker face in place. "Do I ever?"

Coulson stared at him but didn't say anything and turned the tablet in his hands slightly towards him. "You should probably pay attention to this."

They continued walked towards the bridge, listening to Fury interrogate Loki. Tony fiddled with his phone, looking over the files on the on the tesseract.

_"Tony should be here."_

Yeah, the telepathy wasn't something that he was easily going to adjust to. Hoping he was able to respond to Steve without actually doing so, he slipped his phone back into his pocket as they approached the bridge.

"So, the cellist.."

"What do they need the Iridium for?" Banner asked.

"It's a stabalizing agent," he turned to Coulson before he had a chance to walk away. "Just pick a weekend and I'll fly you to Portland."

Tony silently ignored Steve's gaze as he continued. "It means the portal won't collapse on itself like it did at SHIELD." He made his way towards what was most likely Fury's command post. He patted Thor's bicep as he passed. "No hard feelings, Point Break. You've got a mean swing." He could almost feel the confusion floating in the air. "It means the portal can open as wide as he wants."

His hand hovered over one of the screens, pulling up different windows and charts. He looked out to the sea of SHIELD agents. This room was full of too much tension for his liking.

"Raise the mizzenmast, job the top sails." Most of the agents stopped what they were doing and turned to him, incredulous looks upon their faces. He sighed slightly and pointed towards an agent seated near the bridge entrance. "That man is playing Galaga, thought he wouldn't notice, but we did."

That feeling of confusion was back, most likely the empathy of the bond picking it up from Steve. He ignored it and looked back to the screens. Slightly confused, he covered his left eye experimentally and turned to Agent Hill. "How does Fury even see these?"

"He turns."

"Sounds exhausting." He skimmed over one of he screens to his right which showed a personnel file on some of the agents that been taken by Loki.

"The rest of the raw materials, Agent Barton can get his hands on." He turned his left, quickly plugging a micro file drive into the computer. "Only major component he still needs is a power source of high-energy density. Something to kick start the Cube," turning towards the group, he clap his slightly to explain.

"When did you become an expert on thermonuclear astrophysics?"

"Last night." Clearly someone didn't debrief Hill on the whole genius thing. "The packet. Selvig's notes, the extraction theory pages. Am I the only one who did the reading?" Probably not, but Tony was pretty sure he was one of the few people in the room who understood it.

"Does Loki need any kind of power source?" Steve asked, his co fusion still obvious through the bond.

"He would have to heat the Cube to 120 million Kelvin just to break through the Coulomb barrier," Banner supplied.

Tony was impressed. "Unless Selvig has figured out how to stabilize the quantum tunneling effect."

"Well, if he could do that, he could achieve heavily ion fusion at any reactor on the planet."  
Oh, now Tony was really impressed. He made his way towards Banner. "Finally, someone who speaks English."

"Is that what just happened?"

Tony ignored the comment from Steve and shook his hand out, Doctor Banner shaking it in turn. "Good to meet you, Doctor Banner. Your work on anti-electron collisions is unparalleled. I'm a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage monster."

Banner gave him an uncertain look. "Thanks."

"Doctor Banner is the only here to track the Cube, I was hoping you may join him."

Oh yeah, Fury was here. Tony quickly disregarded that though because the confusion that Steve was projecting had seemed to turn into what Tony smugly thought was jealously.

* * *

Steve tried to pay attention to what Tony what saying. It was easy at first, very straight to the point. Then he made that comment about the agent playing Galaga, whatever that is and broke into the science. That seemed to be a recurring thing between Steve and Stark men. Having experiences like that with Howard, Steve discovered it was just easier to shake his hand and nod.

What threw him for the loop was when Doctor Banner and Tony has started bantering back and forth. Steve wasn't sure why but he had a weird feeling over Toy giving so much positive attention to Doctor Banner, it had to be a science thing.

"Doctor Banner is only here to track the Cube, I was hoping you might join him."

Steve was thankful for Director Fury's return, maybe now he would be able to understand somethings. "I'd start with that stick of his. It might be magic but it works an awful lot like a HYDRA weapon." He was thankful he could at least provide something to the conversation.

"I don't know about that, but it is powered by the Cube. I would know to how Loki used it to turn two of the sharpest men I know into his personal flying monkeys."

"Monkeys? I don't understand." Thor might've not understood but Steve felt ecstatic to finally understand _something. _

"I do! I understood that reference." He was pretty sure he could feel that Tony was annoyed through the bond, but he dismissed it. There was no way the bond empathy between them could've formed that fast.

"Shall we play, doctor?" Tony asked.

"This way."

Steve watched them as they left the room, that feeling from a little before growing slightly. Was he actually feeling jealous? It's not like Doctor Banner could do anything, Steve and Tony were the new bonded. The thought didn't make the feeling any better though.

After a few moments Steve decided to get up and make his way towards the lab, maybe play it off that he wanted to understand a little more about the tesseract. He was just hoping that the empathy between them wasn't strong enough for Tony to even think Steve was there for any other reason.

It didn't take him too long to find the lab, and he walked in as Tony jabbed Doctor Banner with something, Steve wasn't sure what, but it managed to shock the him.

"Hey, are you nuts?" Steve asked him as he walked closer to the lab table.

"Jury's out," Tony replied quickly before turning back to Doctor Banner. "You really have got a lid on it, haven't you. What's your secret? Mellow jazz, bongo drums, huge bag of weed..."

"Is everything a joke to you?"

"Funny things are."

Steve didn't really know why he was irritated, but he'd think on that later. "Threatening the safety of everyone on this ship isn't funny, no offense Doc."

Bruce came him a quick glance that look like he understood. "It's alright, I wouldn't have come aboard if I couldn't handle pointy things."

"You're tip-toeing big man, you need to strut."

"And you need to focus on the problem, Mr Stark." Steve quickly hated himself for the slip.

_"Someones in a jealous rage." _Yep, Tony definitely knew.

"Do you think I'm not?" Tony said aloud, turning to him. "Why did Fury call us in? Why not before? What isn't he telling us? I can't do the equation unless I have all the variables."

Steve raised an eyebrow, the jealousy slowly seeping away as he thought over what Tony said. "You think Fury's hiding something from us?"

* * *

Tony was amused at how strongly Steve's jealousy was coming through the bond, so he hadn't been surprised when he saw the captain walk in. He was even more amused at how obvious Steve was ting to hide it from him.

"You think Fury's hiding something from us?" Good, he's smart.

"He's a spy, Captain, he's the spy. It's bugging him too," he gestured to Bruce. "isn't it?"

Bruce looked to them both then raised his hands, slightly waving his hands as if to dismiss the thought. "OH, I just want to finish my work here and..."

"Doctor?"

Bruce sighed. "'A warm light for all man kind', Loki's jab at the Cube."

"I heard it."

Bruce looked at Tony. "I think that was meant for you." Smart man, he deserves blueberries. Tony held the bag out to him, smiling slightly as he took some. "Even if Barton didn't tell Loki about the Tower, it was still over the news." That's exactly what Tony was thinking.

"The Stark Tower? That big, ugly.." Tony turned to Steve, raising an eyebrow slightly. Is he being serious right now?

"_You don't want to continue that description, now do you gramps?'"_

"Building in New York?" Smart move, because really?

"It's powered by an arc reactor, a self sustaining energy source. That thing will run itself, for what, a year?" Oh, Tony was definitely going to get along with him well.

Tony nodded. "That's only the prototype," he turned to Steve, who look slightly confused once again. Must not be big on science. Small words then. "I'm kind of the only name in clean energy right now. That's what he's getting at."

"So why didn't SHIELD bring him in on the tesseract project? What are they doing in the energy business in the first place?" The man had a point.

Tony walked around him, pulling one of the hanging computer screens with him as he went to stand next to Steve. "I should probably look into that once my decryption program finishes breaking into all of SHIELD's secure files."

"I'm sorry, did you say-"

Tony cut Steve off my pulling his phone out of his pocket, showing it to Steve, not that he probably knew what it was but all the same. "Jarvis has been running it since I hit the bridge. Soon I'll know every dirty secret SHIELD has ever tried to hide. Blueberry?" He held the small bag out to Steve.

Steve didn't take one; note, Steve mustn't like blueberries. "Yet you're confused as to why they don't want you around."

That threw Tony off. He tried to reach out through the bond, at least he think he was, still not sure how this whole thing worked exactly. Nothing but confusion with a mix of anger. So it's gonna be like that.

"An intelligence organization that fears intelligence? Historically not awesome."

"I think Loki's trying to wind us up. This is a man who means to start a war, and if we don't stay focused he will succeed." This whole military thing really was starting to become more annoying. Tony got enough of this from Rhodey. "We have orders, we should follow them."

"Followings not my style." Not a lie, it really isn't.

"And you're all about style."

"Out of the people in this room, which one is 'A' wearing a spangly outfit and 'B', not of use?" That was gonna come back to bite him in the ass. He could already feel the hurt pouring of Steve.

Damn it.

"Steve," Banner spoke up. "Tell me none of this smells funky to you?"

Steve looked between the two scientists and that definitely didn't help the guilt that Tony was already feeling.

"Just find the Cube," and with that, he left the room.


	4. And If The Sky Keeps Falling

**Right There With You**

**Author's Note: **I am still completely overwhelmed with the feedback from this story and everything I get from you guys helps me write this better. So, thank you!

**Notes on this Chapter: **This one was literally a word throw up. In two hours last night I went from two and a half pages to eighteen. My b eta sent it back and now I can finally post it! Hope you guys enjoy!

**Disclaimer: ** I do not own a single thing.

**Chapter 4  
And If The Sky Keeps Falling**

Steve probably shouldn't have felt as hurt as he did, he knew that Tony was probably still trying to keep up the act, nonetheless, it still hurt.

He walked out of the lab, not sure of what he was exactly going to do, but the conversation kept playing over in his mind. Everything the two had said made sense and Steve probably would've stayed but between what Tony said and the way he was acting with Doctor Banner...well, maybe there was something else Steve could do to prove he could help. He's ignored direct orders before when he felt like he should be doing something different.

There were some things that the SHIELD agents looked over and that was the other things that Steve gained from the serum. No one seemed to look pass the tall, muscled man out of time to keep their conversations to their clearance levels.

That was something that was already bothering Steve about this century. Obviously being almost seventy years from his time, things were bound to be different but those were also things people looked pass when they commented on Steve's situation.

Everyone immediately thinks he's going to be scared off by the technology. It's not so much the computers and weapon advancements. Steve saw enough of those from destroying HYDRA bases. It's the little things that people think Captain America wouldn't pick up on, but Steve Rogers can't help himself from paying attention to.

Everything now is more about flash and style, a little more selfish and a bit more impersonal, which was different for what he grew up with. In his time, people were direct and honest, with sincerity to the way that people behaved. The way human interaction basically bled manners.  
Maybe that's why Tony's behavior and what he said put Steve off, as if he was rubbing it in his face.

That also brings him back to a conversation he had accidentally overheard as he passed by a couple of higher up SHIELD agents a few days prior. They weren't exactly talking at a normal volume, but then again there was very little Steve's enhanced hearing didn't pick up on.

He remembered hearing 'weapons', followed by 'phase two' and 'prototype'. That's how Steve found himself in front of the door to one of the helicarrier's storage rooms.

Making sure there was no one around, Steve forcefully slid the door open and slipped inside. He was following his instincts on this one and began to look around.

Jumping up onto one of the catwalks, he continued looking around the storage room. All he was really finding was multiple crates of SHIELD-issued field weapons. He was about to give up until be spotted a slightly different shaped crate near the back of the room.

Opening the lid, Steve grew angry as he noticed a familiar emblem on the contents inside. This was definitely something he needed to show to Tony.

* * *

Tony was still feeling guilty for what he said to Steve, his anger obviously getting the better of him. He could feel the pain and hurt that Steve projected through the bond as he left the room.

He tried to ignore it, he did, that's why he had that conversation with Banner about The Hulk, which only served as a small distraction though.

_"You know I didn't mean it right?" _

There was no response from Steve. They were lucky that this whole telepathy thing sort of came naturally with the bond otherwise Tony wold be freaking out trying to figure out how it was worked.

"How's your decryption program coming?" Bruce had asked after a couple minutes.

Tony had honestly forgotten about it. Walking over to the computer screen closest to Bruce, he pulled it down and asked for JARVIS.

'ACCESS DENIED' the screen flashed at him. Nice try SHIELD, there's not much you can hide from Tony Stark.

"Jarvis, run it again," Tony ordered, watching as multiple screens asking for passcodes popped up and almost immediately popped away seconds later.

"What are you hiding Cyclops," Tony whispered as more screens passed by, ones asking for higher clearance.

He almost jumped with a sudden wave of anger came over him. Regaining his composure quickly, he pinpointed it to the bond.

_"Are you okay?" _

Was he worried? Probably. It's sort of out of his control.

_"I found something." _Steve's reply threw him off because, shit, were they actually having a conversation?

Big, long talk preferably over alcohol when all this Loki-crap over.

_"What kind of something?" _

_"I'm on my way back with it, see you in a few."_

So, not only had Steve listened to what Banner and Tony said, he went hunting on his own. Also, the anger wasn't directed at him.

Tony didn't even look up as Fury entered the room. "JARVIS, you were supposed to play ninja, not hide and seek," he whispered as more screens popped up.

"What are you doing, Mr. Stark?"

So naive.

"Uh- could kind of been wondering the same about you." Tony raised his eyebrows, almost as if he was challenging Fury.

"You're supposed to be locating the Tesseract."

"We are." Banner in for the save. "The model's locked and sweeping for the signature now. When we get a hit, we'll have the location within a half-mile."

"And you'll have your cube back. No muss, no fuss." Tony squinted slightly at the document titled "Phase 2" that was pulled up on the screen, quickly opening the adjoined test files and simulation videos. "What is Phase 2?"

Steve came in, dropping a heavy object on the closest lab table.

That's weird. Tony should've been able to feel him coming through the bond, just like before.

* * *

Steve all but ripped the gun from the crate, blue eyes filled at with rage at the HYDRA emblem imprinted on the barrel of the gun. This was something Steve was hoping to not see in this era, but nothing could ever go his way.

_"Are you okay?"_

Telepathy. Right.

He was surprised with the concern that he could feel coming through with the bond. The anger and guilt quickly slipped away but the rage he was feeling from SHIELD hiding something as big as this.

_"I found something,"_Steve isn't exactly sure when they found out how to work the telepathy, how to even have a conversation through it, but he was thankful for it.

_"What kind of something?"_

_"I'm on my way back with it. See ya in a few."_

As he got closer to the lab, something began to feel off but he couldn't really place it. It wasn't the same feeling he had before, where instinct was leading thought, but a feeling that something should be there that shouldn't, something that didn't belong at all. He tucked the feeling away as he heard voices coming from the lab.

"What is phase 2?" He heard Tony ask. He smirked slightly, appreciating his timing.

Steve walked in and plopped the HYDRA gun on the lab table, sending an icing glare to Fury. "Phase 2 is SHIELD used the Cube to make weapons," he looked to Tony. "Sorry, the computer was moving a little slow for me."

The snort he received from Tony was at least satisfying.

"Rogers, we gathered everything related to the Tesseract. This does not mean that we're-"  
Tony quickly cut him off, turning the computer screen towards them showing the test files and hologram schematics of the missile phase two would create. "I'm sorry, Nick. What were you lying?"

"I was wrong, Director. The world hasn't changed a bit."

That feeling came back in a tidal wave. Something was wrong, something was different. But what was it?

The door on the opposite side of the lab opened, Natasha and Thor walking in. Natasha had an unnerving glare towards Doctor Banner. In return, Bruce gestured to the computer screen, and looked to Natasha.

"Did you know about this?"

"You wanna think about removing yourself from this environment, doctor?"

Bruce let out a chuckle. The tension was building in the room. It felt as if everything had been sucked into a different dimension, something was going on.

"I was in Calcutta, I was pretty well removed."

"Loki's manipulating you."

Okay, where did that come from? Steve snuck a quick glance to Tony who had started walking towards Steve, and that's when Steve realized.

He couldn't feel the bond. He couldn't communicate with Tony. Was this some sort of side effect of a newly form bond? Was there something they were supposed to do?

"And you've been doing what exactly?" The conversation between Bruce and Natasha continued and without the bond to distract him, Steve had a pretty tough time blocking it out.

"You didn't come here because I bat my eyelashes at you."

"Yes, and I'm not leaving because suddenly you get a little twitchy. I'd like to know why SHIELD is using the Tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction."

Fury sighed and pointed to Thor. "Because of him."

Thor and the rest of the room looked confused. How did this suddenly get to Thor. Loki was the one causing all this, right?

"Me?"

"Last year Earth had a visitor from another planet who had a grudge match that leveled a small town. We learned that not only are we not alone, but we are hopelessly, hilariously out gunned."

Thor looked a little insulted, not surprising, but all the same. "My people want nothing but peace with your planet."

Fury turned to the Asgardian. "But you're not the only people out there are you? And you're not the only threat. The world's filling up, with people who can't be matched- they can't be controlled."

The anger was building up in Steve again. This was something he was hoping would be the better difference in this time, apparently that wasn't the case. "Like you controlled the Cube."

* * *

Tony watched as the rage, the anger, the clashing swirled like an oncoming storm. These many people, with their attitudes, their way of life. How was Fury expecting all this to work?

He was still slightly put off about the whole not being able to feel his bond because you know; it was finally becoming to be something normal. Readjustment and all that. This wasn't what he was expecting when he went digging into the SHIELD files, this was something literally in a whole other universe.

The seething anger could be seen rolling off the Thunder god, like the lightening and the clouds were rolling in for him to unleash. "Your work with the Tesseract is what drew Loki to it, and his allies." He did have a point. "It is the signal to all the realms that the Earth is ready for a higher form of war."

"A higher form?"

Fury looked well, furious, that his entire plan, this 'team' was falling to shambles. "You forced our hand. We had to come up with-"

Tony had been quiet for long enough. "Nuclear deterrent? 'Cause that always calms everything right down."

There was something else in the atmosphere of the room, something that couldn't really be placed. If Tony had the time, then maybe, but in the last twenty four hours he really didn't have all that much to himself.

The room quickly fell into a sea of arguments, as if people were just yelling to be a part of it. Sure they sort of all understood what was going on but only to a certain extent. There were currently way too many points to look at this situation and no one seemed like they wanted to find which one would be the right one to follow.

That glare, the one-eyed glare was suddenly on him. "Remind me again how you made your fortune, Stark?"

"I'm sure if he still made weapons, Stark would be neck deep-" Okay, really? More crap like this from the iceberg? Maybe if was a good thing he couldn't feel the bond right now.

* * *

"Wait-wait...hold on! How is this now about me?"

There were a lot of things going on right now. Things Steve understood, things he couldn't make turn of and things he didn't even want to know about.

He didn't want to be here, he wasn't supposed to be here. Somehow he got pulled into it. The bond was cut off, he couldn't pinpoint his current feeling on that because it felt like he was being assaulted with something else.

"Wait-wait...hold on! How is this now about me?" Steve knew this was probably just part of the act, maybe Tony had picked up on not feeling the bond or something, Steve wasn't sure. Time to think the with brain, ignore the heart because it wasn't something that he could feel right now.

"I'm sorry isn't everything?"

And the wave came crashing back in. The anger, the rage. The tsunami of known and distant emotions, ones that didn't have a place, ones that did.

"I thought humans were more evolved than this." Apparently not.

Everyone was arguing over each other. Everyone wanted the last say. Bits and pieces of every argument could be heard, not knowing which ones related to each other or which ones were just there.

"Excuse me, did we come to your planet and blow stuff up?"

"Are you boys really that naive? SHIELD monitors potential threats."

"You furious? I'm furious."

"And Captain America is on the threat poll?"

"That's not your concern doctor!"

The feeling felt like they were being watched through a million different cameras. The feeling like someone had their eye on you and you'll never know who, you'll never know how, you'll never know why.

Suddenly, Tony's attention was once again on Steve.

"You're on that list? Are you above or below angry bees?"

Couldn't back down from a fight. Once you start running, you never stop. Suddenly Steve wasn't on the helicarrier in 2012; he was back in a dirty alley way in 1942 Brooklyn.

"I swear to God, Stark, one more crack..."

"You're a threat. Verbal threat! I feel threatened!"

"Show some respect!"

"Respect what?"

The arguing grew to an alarming volume once again.

"You speak of control, yet you court chaos!"

"It's his MO, isn't it? I mean, what are we, a team?" No, Doctor Banner. Far from it. "No, no, no. We're a chemical mixture that makes chaos. We're-we're a time bomb."

"You need to step away."

Tony grabbed Steve's shoulder, pulling him somewhere in between Brooklyn and the helicarrier. He wasn't sure if he was Captain America or tiny little Steve Rogers. He quickly knocked the hand off. "You know dam well why! Back off."

"You know damn well why! Back off." Tony didn't know where this was going, don't know if he even liked it. This was supposed to be his bonded yet they were fighting like a civil war.

* * *

"Oh, I'm starting to want you to make me." Take that in any context that you wish.

"Yeah, big man in a suit of armor. Take that off, what are you?"

That's an easy one. "Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist."

"I know guys with none of that worth ten of you." Here we go. "I've seen the footage. The only thing you really fight for is yourself." It's the only thing he can. "You're not the guy to make the sacrifice play, to lay down on a wire and let the other guy crawl over you."

Tony tried to reach the bond, trying to see if this was sincere.

He got nothing.

"I think I would just cut the wire." Stick to the act; figure this out later, if possible.

"Always a way out. You know, you may not be a threat, but you better stop pretending to be a hero."

Okay, what the hell. "A hero, life you? You're a laboratory experiment, Rogers. Everything special about you came out of a bottle."

A flash of hurt that Tony was slowly becoming familiar with flashed across Steve's face, reflected in his eyes as a smirk suddenly took over.

This didn't seem right.

"Put on the suit, let's go a few rounds."

Everything seemed to change with that, like the world had been turned on its side, like something was off-center. The quiet quickly filled the room, broken by Thor's laughter.

"You people are so petty, and tiny."

Confidence booster right there.

Then everything straightened up. It felt like a really bad hangover at first, and then suddenly the bond was back like it had never gone. He could feel his emotions pouring into the bond, he could feel the emotions pouring from Steve, he could feel the tugging on his heart-

The guilt, the apology, the despair. Steve hadn't meant anything of what he said. He was confused too. Tony was hoping he was sending the same things back. He didn't need to feel like a bigger asshole.

From the look, the feeling that Steve was returning, he understood. Thank God, or Odin, or- he didn't even know anymore.

Unfortunately, it didn't exactly go right back to black there.

"Agent Romanoff, would you escort Doctor Banner back to his-" God damn it, Fury.

"Where? You rented my room."

"The cell was just-"

"In case you needed to kill me, but you can't. I know. I tried."

The room grew eerie with silence after that remark. This is why Tony preferred noise, didn't like the silence.

"I got low. I didn't seen an end," Tony understood that much at least, as did it to everyone else. "I put a bullet in my mouth and the other guy spit it out. So I moved on, I focused on helping other people. I was fine until you dragged me back into this freak show and put everyone here at risk. You wanna know my secret, Agent Romanoff? You wanna know how I stay calm?"

They all do at this point. Tony wasn't sure if Banner knew or not but he had slowly been moving back to the scepter, like he wasn't in control. A puppet. The scepter was suddenly in his hand and he moved back around the lab table, challenging them.

Steve has stood in front of slightly, probably without thinking. In his peripheral, Tony can see Fury and Romanoff reaching for their guns.

"Doctor Banner, put down the scepter."

Bruce was just as shocked as the rest of them when he realized the scepter was in his hands. The moment was short lived as the tracker across the room started to go off.

"Got it." You got nothing, Fury.

Bruce placed the scepter back down and crossed the room. "Sorry, kids. You don't get to see my party trick."

"Located the Tesseract?"

"I can get there faster." Steve instantly turned to him. "Look, all of us-" Tony turns from him to leave, Steve grabbed his arm, trying to hold him back.

"You're not going alone!"

"_The act Steve, keep it up, please."_

"_Right, sorry."_

Tony smacked his hand away. "You gonna stop me?"

"Put on the suit, let's find out."

Sorry, Steve. "I'm not afraid to hit an old man."

"Put on the suit."

Time seems to slow down, the seconds tick. "Oh my god," can be heard from Bruce, looking at the screen.

Then the explosions happened. One right after another, not even sure where they originated from. The lab seems to be a primary target as everyone is sent flying into different directions. He can't see anyone but Steve who has landed near him in the entry way.

Smoke and flames filled the lab and Tony couldn't see anything. Steve moved slightly as Tony reached threw the bond once more, incredibly happy to have it back. Not admitting that out loud yet, but Steve wasn't there yet and neither was he.

* * *

Steve groaned slightly as his shoulder hit a cabinet. He had landed near Tony when the explosion hit the lab, which he was thankful for. Tony wasn't hurt, he was pretty sure now that the bond had returned he would be able to feel that. That was something that came with every bond, no matter the strength.

The two of them look at each, igniting a spark and start to scramble to their feet. Steve get there's first and starts helping Tony. "Put on the suit."

"Yep."

The two of them leave the lab, not sure where they're really heading.

"I'm not sure what's going to happen right now, but god damn it, be careful." Steve was surprised as the amount of concern that Tony emphasized into the words.

"Same to you."

Tony sent him a small nod in understanding as the two continued down the hallway, passing members of SHIELD running in each direction.

"Engine three is down. There is a fire in engine three. We lose one more engine, we're going down. Somebody's gotta get outside and patch that engine," Maria Hill's voice comes over the comms.

"Well, I know where we're probably heading." Steve didn't say anything, just continued to follow Tony.

"Stark, you copy that?"

"I'm on it." Tony looked to Steve. "Follow me."

* * *

Oh, Fury you're a lucky bastard today.

"We're gonna double team the bond and the comms. I don't know how, but hell, we haven't figured anything out yet on our own, so might as well continue it," Tony explained to Steve as he lead the two through debris-filled halls on the helicarrier.

"You tell me if there is trouble right away," Tony said, stopping at the cargo room that he and Steve had spoken in earlier. "I don't know where the others are, they're not our problem right now. Find engine three, I'll meet you there."

Steve nodded and continued down the hallway as Tony continued into the cargo hall, turning into a tech room. Pulling his phone from his pocket, he clicked a button and his suit-his beautiful suit is lit up in all its glory.

* * *

It wasn't that hard for Steve to find it, eidetic memory and all. He just hoped Tony was ready for whatever he was planning to do.

He entered the room, quickly letting maintenance members pass through and he saw the damaged engine. An entire piece of wall was missing from the helicarrier.

"Stark! Stark, I'm here."

_"Well, Star Spangled Man, definitely improved your acting from those talkies?"_

Steve didn't comment as Tony came flying into view, still completely in awe of the Iron Man suit.

"Good. Let's see what we got."

Tony flew over to the smoking engine, the HUB screen inside the Iron Man suit quickly pulling up the schematics from the SHIELD files as Jarvis quickly matched up the damage pieces.

As they popped up, Tony quickly listed off the problems to himself. "I gotta get the super conducting cooling system back online before I can access the rotors, work on dislodging the debris."

He turned to Steve who was standing at the ready at the damaged opening of the helicarrier.

"I need you to get to that engine control panel," he began, pointing a few floors up. "And tell me which relays are in overload position."  
Steve really isn't sure how much of that he actually understood but followed Tony's gesture, and nodded in compliance. He stood back an inch or two before jumping across the damaged floor.

"_Again, spry."_

"_Still don't know what you mean by that."_

Locating what he thinks is the control panel, he pulls it open revealing a maze of orange lights with different wires sticking out in every which way.

"What's it look like in there?"

Steve sighs, because really, he has no idea. "It seems to run on some form of electricity."

Tony almost snorted till he remembered, forties. Right. Probably has no idea what a relay position is when it comes to something like this.

"Well, you're not wrong." Tony sighed. "Jarvis, pull up the control panel for engine three schematics and compare it to what the dear Captain is seeing would you?"

"Right away, sir."

Tony continued to remove debri from the engine, using his uni beam in one of his gauntlets.

"Okay, make sure the purple wires are connected to a port labeled 'alarm output.' It should be a little simpler from there." Tony listed everything off, hoping that Steve was following it.

After a few minutes they had double checked everything. "Kay, the relays are intact." Steve confirmed, pushing the control panel back in. "What's our next move?"

Tony was impressed. Steve caught on quick, incredibly helpful. "Even if I clear the rotors, this thing won't re-engage without a jump. I'm gonna have to get in there and push."

"Well, if that thing gets up to speed, you'll get shredded."

"_Metal suit, dear."_

"Then stay in the control unit and reverse the polarity long enough to disengage maglev and that should-"

"Speak. English." Okay, maybe not that quick.

"See that red lever?"

Steve looked over a little farther from the area he first jumped over from and saw what Tony was pointing out.

"It'll slow down the rotors down long enough for me to get out. Stand by it, wait for my word."

Steve nodded and made the jump, quickly taking a spot next to the lever and watched Tony go inside the engine.

"_Please be careful."_

There's more chatter over the comms, too much that Steve can only pick out certain things.

"We've got the Hulk and Thor on Research Level Four-"

"-will tear this place apart!"

"-attention."

"Escort 6-0, proceed to wishbone-"

"Copy."

Steve's not sure what exactly is going on. He can hear the sounds of gunshots, followed by a roar. There's more screaming over the comms.

"Target acquired. Target engaged."

Another roar, more gunshots.

"Target angry. Target angry."

Broken glass, an explosion.

Tony saws off pieces of the debris with a laser then jumps on them to knock them off the rotors, totally tuned out of everything else that could be going but in the back of his mind, paying attention if anything happens to Steve through the bond.

Steve's doing the same and can see men appearing near the entrance of the broken engine control room. They aren't dressed like any of the other SHIELD agents aboard the helicarrier. Maybe these are some of the men that Loki had under his spell.

Some men were moving closer and one threw a grenade, thinking quickly Steve jumped across the opening, knocking the grenade from the air, landing on the cat walk.

"_What the hell was that?"_

"_A grenade?"_

"_What?" _

"_Loki's men. I think."_

"-sir we lost all power in engine one."

Fury's voice comes back on the comms. "It's Barton. He took out our systems. He's headed for the detention lab. Does anybody copy?"  
The comms. remain silent until Natasha's voice, slightly shaky breaks it. "This is Agent Romanoff. I copy."

Tony's now managed to knock out most of the debris that was lodged in the rotors, trying to push them but so far unsuccessful.

"Stark, we're losing altitude."

"Yep, I noticed." This time as he flies in between the rotors, they begin to move, slowly, but their moving.

Back on the catwalk, some of Loki's men had managed to gang up on Steve. He had managed to knock a few back. One knocked out into the air, a kick to the chest, a piece of debris thrown, knocked a gun out of hand, shooting freely at the ones closest. A few started slowly pushing him near the edge of the opening. Unfortunately, they get the upper hand and Steve slips, almost dropping off the carrier but had managed to grab a wire.

"_What the hell, I thought I told you be careful?" _Tony's mind is practically screaming at Steve. _"What is going on?"_

Steve didn't mean to send the panic through the bond, knowing that he shouldn't be distracting Tony.

"_I'm sorry. I-" _

"_Steve. Are you okay?"_

"_I'm going to need a few minutes to get back to the lever-"_

"_Isn't it against the declaration to lie or something? I can feel you're in trouble, can't hide that big guy."_

Okay, Tony changed a lot. This bond thing, wow.

"_I slipped. I didn't mean to panic, but I slipped. Kind of hanging off the helicarrier right now."_

"_Hanging off the helicarrier-WHAT? Do I need to come help-"_

"_No. Focus on the engine. I've got it. I just need to climb back in."_

"_Kind of hard to focus when you're dangling like an ornament."_

"_I'm so-"_

"_I'm allergic to apologies, please don't finish that sentence."_

Steve didn't say anything wisely keeping his mouth shut.

Tony on the other hand was trying to calm down but seriously, this bond everything was completely throwing him off. Seriously? Hanging off the side of the helicarrier?

Tony can feel the other engines of the helicarrier beginning to fail as it began to slowly fall from the sky. He's still trying to kick start the engine, the rotors starting to move a little faster, the blades starting to look like a blender. He flew faster and faster, feeling the full amount of the g's he was pushing challenging the suit until the rotors start spinning on their own and the ship levels off.

"Cap hit the lever!"

"I need a minute here!" So either still dangling or climbing, great.

"Lever! Now!"

Tony is quickly pushed up against one of the rotors which were now spinning too fast for him to escape, and as Steve predicted, he got sucked into the blades and spun wildly around, silently hoping that Steve had managed to climb up before either Tony became block of metal or Steve fell to his death.

Either or.

Steve let out the deep breath he had been holding as he quickly hauled himself up over the side. It was short lived as the men began shooting at him. He dodged as much as he could as he fought his way over to the lever. Luckily that quickly allowed Tony to be dropped out of the rotors, free falling for a couple of minutes before he leveled himself out using the repulsors. He flew up to the platform and quickly tackled the gunman shooting at Steve to the floor, knocking him unconscious.

Steve took that moment to collapse against the wall, finally catching his breath.

"_Thank you."_

"_No problem, Cap."_

* * *

"Agent Coulson is down."

"A medical team is on its way."

"They're here. They called it."

* * *

Nothing was said as Tony and Steve took seats at the table on the bridge, Director Fury facing away from that the command center. They had both changed, sort of. Tony had changed back into his clothes, Steve taking off the main armor of his uniform.  
Nothing was said between them, nothing had needed to be. It was all felt but they weren't exactly which emotion belonged to who.

Guilt. Betrayal. Hurt. Angry. Alone.

Fury slowly turned toward the pair, not looking at them but instead to something that held in his hands. "These were in Phil Coulson's jacket, guess he never did get him to sign them."  
Thrusting his arm forward, a pile of cards landed in front of Steve on the table. The images of his past self, slightly aged, slightly covered in blood.

The guilt flared from within Steve the same time he felt the anger pouring off of Tony, but it wasn't directed at him.

"We're dead in the air up here. Our communications, location of the Cube. Banner, Thor. I got nothing for you. I lost my one good eye, guess I had that coming."

Steve reached forward, turning one of the cards over and his heart clenched, quickly retracting his hand, he let it fall in his lap, eyes not leaving the table.

"The idea was to bring together a group of remarkable people, see if they could become something more. See if they could work together when we needed them to. To fight the battles we never could." He stopped, making a deep breath, eye flickering back and forth between the pair in front of him. "Phil Coulson died still believing in heroes."

That was the tipping point, the toeing of the line for Tony. He violently but silently stood up. The bond betraying whatever emotion his face was trying to hide, not that Fury knew that. His eyes darted around the bridge, avoiding eye contact with anyone. He turned and walked out.

_"Wait a few minutes, then follow me."_

* * *

Steve found him in the now empty detention center, they had found out Loki had tricked Thor into and dropped it. They're waiting to hear back about the demigod, but they know he's alive.

Tony was standing on the higher landing when he walked in silently, walking up the few steps to the lower landing. He leaned against the bars, crossing his arms over his chest.  
The guilt and betrayal were stronger over the bond then they were back on the bridge.

Steve wanted nothing more than to go over there and just hold Tony but he knew he wasn't at that level yet, probably nowhere near it. Needed more time.

He needed to do something, say something.

"Was he married?"

Tony was silent for a moment. "There was a - uh - cellist in Portland."

"I'm sorry," he couldn't think of anything else to say, anything that would've mattered. "He seemed like a good man."

Tony snorted slightly and turned towards Steve, one hand in his pocket and flailing the other one around awkwardly as to wave off the comment. "He was an idiot."

"Why? For believing?"

"For taking on Loki alone." He began walking slowly towards Steve, any emotion he was projecting was all over the place and Steve couldn't pinpoint any one specific. He noticed Tony quickly ignored the Loki-sized hole behind him.

"He was doing his job-"

Tony shot a questioning glance to Steve. "He was out of his league. He should have waited, he should have-"

"There's not always a way out, Tony-"

Tony was now only a few feet from the older-younger, he didn't know right now, man. The bond was providing the comfort he needed right now. The distance between Steve and misses elf was helping, especially since Tony was afraid of what would happen if he admitted out loud that he needed the comfort.

"Right, how did that work for him?" He walked closer to the stairs leading out of the room, his back turned.

"Is this the first time you've lost a soldier?"

That hit Tony faster than he could process and he turned towards Steve. "We are NOT soldiers." He shook his head, wiping a hand over his face slowly. "Sorry, I didn't mean that-"

"Its fine, I understand." Steve would be the one to understand everything Tony needed, another sign of why the universe had put them together.

"Yeah, I was thinking that too." Oops, apparently Tony was thinking out loud again.

"I'm not marching to Fury's fife."

Steve nodded in agreement. "Neither am I. He's got the same blood on his hands that Loki does, but right now we gotta put that behind us and get this done." Tony nodded, taking a quick glance at the blood stain on the wall and willed himself to look away. Steve continued, "Now Loki needs a power source, if we can put together a list-" The beautiful mind of a tactician.

Tony was thinking the same, but his speed was a little faster, a little different strain.

"He made it personal."

"That's not the point."

"That is the point, that's Loki's point," he snapped his fingers and look to Steve who seemed to be picking up on what Tony was trying to say. "He hit us all where we live. Why?" He started making his way towards the higher landing.

"To tear us apart."

"Yeah, divide and conquer is great but- he knows he has to take us out to win, right? That's what he wants. He wants to beat us," he began climbing her stairs. "He wants to be seen doing it. He wants his audience."

"Right, I caught his set in Stuttgart."

Tony turned towards him as he reached the top step. "Yeah, that was just the preview, this is-this is opening night. And Loki- he's a full-tail diva. He wants flowers. He wants parade. He wants a monument built to the skies with his name plastered-" Tony cut himself off as realization wash over him. With the way Steve raised his eyebrows, they were thinking the same thing.

Stark Tower.

"Son-of-a-bitch." Tony darted down the stairs quickly, stopping before he was completely out the door.

"Alright, so the plan of attack? Is still attack. This time with guidelines," he stepped closer to Steve with each word, stopping when they were only inches apart.

The tugging of the bond in their hearts was strong, forceful and determined, but it all felt natural.

Steve swallowed slightly, his voice barely above a whisper as he responded. "Alright, they are?"

"Same as before. Keep the act going on the comms. The bond is to be used for emergencies and the like, just like before. If I send you something, you respond, you got me?"

Tony could see the hope and understanding in Steve's eyes. Steve could see the concern and determination in Tony's.

Tony didn't even try to smirk when all Steve could do was nod. "You're the first avenger, you're the Captain. Make the calls, but if I say so, you pull back?"

"If you promise the same."

"Go find Romanoff," he said as he began to turn. "Meet me at the Tower as soon as you can."

"Got it."

Tony went to walk away but something else needed to be done, and he doesn't give a shit if this is happening on impulse.

He turned back towards Steve, grabbing him by the blue undershirt, pulling Steve as close to him as possible. He leaned up and claimed Steve's lips against his own. Everything just felt right, especially when Steve returned it with so much passion.

They pulled apart, Steve's forehead leaning against Tony's, their eyes shut, letting the bond being completed wash over them, the feeling of belonging right where they are and that feeling wasn't going anywhere.

Tony didn't need to open his eyes to know that Steve's grin mirrored his own. It didn't need to be said, probably never needed to be said aloud but both could feel it.

"I love you."


	5. And If The Night Keeps Calling

**Right There With You**

**Author's Note: **I would first like to apologize on how long it's been since an update. I had to get my laptop fix and that didn't happen until around Christmas-ish. So, there's that. And I'm sorry for this chapter for being so short. I actually had planned for it to cover a lot of things but my beta is kind of...slacking.

**Notes on this Chapter: **This picks up exactly where the last chapter left off. As I mentioned above, this was going to actually cover the _entire_ battle. I already felt bad that it had been almost two months since an update, but, here ya guys go. The next part should be a lot longer and updated a lot sooner.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own a single thing.

* * *

The words unsaid hung in the air enveloping the bonded pair in blissful silence.

"Did-"

"Yeah-"

"We-"

"Yep-"

"Great."

This was the feeling that everyone wanted to experience, the moment that you knew would happen. The soulbond was now complete, two hearts beating together as one. The feeling that nothing could stop and you were born to live forever.

Tony grinned as he felt Steve's hands come to rest on his hips, Tony's arms around Steve's neck.

"That just felt-"

"Perfect."

Steve kissed Tony again with as much passion and emotion as the first, the feeling familiar and foreign but so _right.  
_  
"We can't stay here," he heard Tony mumbled as they pulled away, looking to each other.  
"Right. We should get going," Steve whispered reluctantly taking his hands off of Tony's hips, taking a step back from the shorter man.

"Do you have a plan? I mean, you are the Star Spangled Man with a Plan, so, you must have _something_?"

Steve friends slightly and shook his head. "Even being unfrozen for three weeks-"

"Three weeks? You've only been unfrozen for THREE weeks?" All Steve could do was nod, he was pretty sure that was in his dossier, but whatever.

"We'll discuss that part later. Alright, okay. So, this is what we're going to do," Tony began, placing a hand on Steve's left arm, staring straight into his eyes. "This is going to have to be one of those wing it situations. I know you fought HYRDA and Nazis but I'm pretty sure an alien army led by a crazy Norse God is all out of comfort zones."

He started to walk away, pulling Steve along with him as they walked through the halls of the helicarrier. "I'm going to tune up my suit and head to the tower. Find Romanoff; try to get in contact with Thor and Banner. Meet me at the tower and we'll go from there okay?"

Steve nodded and Tony gave him as small smile. Before Tony had the chance to turn away, Steve grabbed him, pulling him in for a quick kiss.

"Be safe, I'll see you soon."

Steve watched as Tony headed towards the cargo hall that held the Iron Man armor. He smiled slightly and made his way to where he had left his suit.

It had been such a short amount of time but Steve couldn't get over the fact how everything finally felt _right_. He was still the man out of time, but he had Tony.

And really? At this point, that's all that mattered.

Reaching the makeshift quarters, he pulled on the over armor of his suit, red gloves following. He tucked his cowl in his pocket and quickly picked up his shield, rubbing a protective handover the circle of vibranium.

He stepped out into the hallway, watching the SHIELD agents rushing around. He stopped a female agent quickly before she could pass.

"Excuse me ma'am," he ignored the look of wonder the woman gave him. "Could you possibly tell me where I could find Agent Romonaff?"

"Last I heard she was in the infirmary with Agent Barton."

Steve gave her a small smiled and nodded. "Thank you, ma'am." He turned away from her and made his way towards the infirmary.

Steve was sort of nervous. The only information he really had on Barton was hat he had been taken under Loki's control with the tesseract, mind control. Hopefully now that Romonaff was with him, things might be a little better.

The door in the sick bay was open when he got there. Natasha was sitting on her own. She looked up as he stopped at the door.

"Time to go."

Natasha gave him a questioning look, her eyebrow raised slightly. "Go where?"

"I'll tell you on the way. Can you fly one of those jets?"

Her answer was cut off as Agent Barton stepped out of the bathroom. "I can."

Steve was a little unsure; not really knowing the state Barton was in at the moment. He looked to Natasha, figuring that she would know the best. Their eyes met and she nodded.  
That was all Steve needed. He turned to Barton, nodding his head slightly.

"Got a suit?"

"Yeah."

"Then suit up."

"Where do you want us to meet you?"

"Meet me in the lower hanger sector one. We'll have to take one of the jets."

"Where are we heading?" Barton asked before Steve stepped away.

"Stark Tower," and he walked off, pulling his cowl on as he went.

Tony had a welding gun aimed in the faceplate of the Iron Man armor. The suit hadn't been too damaged after the blender treatment but maybe he'd have to try out the MARK VII when he got back to the tower.

_"Did you find Romonaff?"_

As he waited for an answer, the lights of the face plate sparked with the familiar blue and he allowed himself a small smile.

_"Yeah, and Barton. We're—"_

_"Wait, Barton? Is that even safe?"_

_"Natasha says he's gotten rid of whatever Loki had on him. We're heading to the jets now, I'll see you later."_

_"Stay safe."_

_"You too."_

Steve is standing near the back of the hanger, waiting for Barton and Romanoff to show up. He had the entirety of his uniform, his shield on his right arm ready. He looked up as he heard footsteps coming his way.

"Captain," Barton said, holding his hand out to Steve.

"Barton," Steve said, shaking his hand. "Is there another I should be aware of in the field?" Steve asked, looking to the both of them.

"Black Widow should do," Natasha said as one of the Widow bites on her wrists charged up, charging sparks of blue popping off the small item.

"Hawkeye," Barton whispered, eyes quickly glancing to the bow in his hands, Steve eyeing the quiver on his back.

"Alright," Steve said, nodding. "Let's go."

"What exactly is the plan here, Captain?" Barton asked from behind him on his left. Steve had started making his way towards an 'open' jet, the two SHIELD agents falling step behind them. The three of them crossing the hanger was definitely something intimidating.

"Stark and I were able to figure out Loki's current plan, we don't know everything exactly, just something's about to go down at Stark Tower and we need to be prepared for whatever it is."

The two nodded as they walked up the ramp to the quinjet behind the super-soldier, only stopping when a SHIELD engineer had stood up.

"Hey, you guys aren't authorized to be in here—" Steve quickly cut him off.

"Son, just don't."

Hawkeye and The Black Widow quickly walked pass the two, Barton trying to stifle a laugh as he took a seat in the pilot, Natasha sitting to his right in the co-pilot seat.

"Is this guy for real?" Clint asked as he leaned over to whisper in Natasha's ear.

Natasha knew Steve could hear them, so she smirked slightly and gave Clint a small nod.

"Awesome." Clint smirked slightly, preparing the quinjet for flight. Steve took a seat on the bench closest to the cockpit as the bay door closed behind them. Luckily for them, even though sector one was a beneath-the-deck hangar, the launch site had an open dock so they didn't need to ask for assistance.

"Iron Man, do you copy?" Natasha spoke into her headset as the quinjet rose from the ground and began to taxi out of the helicarrier.

"Loud and clear, Daddy Long Legs," Tony's voice quickly came in over the communication systems.

"These lines should stay clear," Barton murmured, flipping a few switches as the quinjet cleared the end of the strip and took off.

"Roger that," and Iron Man flew out past them.

_"Roger Rogers would've been too much?"_

Steve smirked slightly as he watched a red and gold blur fly out. _"Maybe a tad bit."_


	6. I'm On Your Side

**Right There With You**

**Author's Note: **I was completely overwhelmed with the feedback from the last chapter that I've decided to post the battle in two parts! Thank you guys so much!.

**Notes about this chapter: **Loki has an army. The Avengers have a Hulk.

* * *

**Chapter 6  
I'm On Your Side**

"So, which one is it?"

"Sorry?"

"Are you a big guy that gets all little, or a little guy that, ah, sometimes blows up large?"

"You know. I'm not even sure."

"You got somewhere to go?"

"Stark Tower. I, no, yes."

"I'd expect some confusion of the mind, since your body's kind of all over the place, but it has to be one or the other.

"I know where I could do the most good, but it's where I could do the most harm."

"Well, that's no different to anybody else."

* * *

"Sir."

"Agent Hill."

"Those cards, they were in Coulson's locker, not his jacket."

"They needed the push."

_"We've got an unauthorized departure…"_

"They found it. Get our communications back up, whatever you have to do. I want eyes on everything."

"Yes, sir."

* * *

Tony could feel that his suit was losing power as his flight from the helicarrier came closer to the Manhattan skyline and that of Stark Tower. As he approaches, he can see Dr. Selvig on the roof, playing around with a device that he couldn't identify.

"Sir, I turned off the arc reactor. The device is already self-sustaining," JARVIS explained to him as Tony approached the man on the roof with caution.

"Shut it down, Dr. Selvig."

The doctor turned to look at Tony. "It's too late! She can't stop now. She wants to show us something! A new universe"

Tony looked at the man, his face luckily hidden by the Iron Man faceplate, a look of annoyance on his face. "Okay," he mumbled. Raising his arm, he aimed a repulsor at the machine, firing at the barrier that surrounded the center of the device; no doubt it was protecting the Tesseract. It quickly deflected the shot, the energy knocking Selvig unconscious and Iron Man back.

"The barrier is pure energy. It's unreachable," JARVIS explained.

"Yeah, I got that."

_"Are you okay?" _Steve's voice coming rushed and felt sort of worried, through the bond. _"You feel…annoyed."_

Tony sighed before replying. _"Yeah. We were right. Selvig has a machine set on top the tower. The Tesseract in the middle and it's protected."_

Tony sees Loki land on the platform below him, eyeing him up before walking into the penthouse.

"I'm beat," Tony mumbles, slowly flying towards the other platform.

_"Loki's here. How much farther are you guys out."_

_"Our ETA is at least another 10 minutes."_

_"I'll stall him."_

_"Got it, see you soon."_

"Sir, the Mark Seven is not ready for deployment," JARVIS informs him as he makes his way towards the other platform.

"Then skip the spinning rims, we're on the clock. We need to stall this until we have everyone, well, everyone we at least know are coming," Tony stresses as he lands. His suit begins to deconstruct as he walks down the walkway. His eyes never leave Loki's form, as he enters the penthouse.

"Please tell me you're going to appeal to my humanity."

Tony smirks slightly and folds his arms behind his back. "Uh – actually, I' planning to threaten you." He makes his way down the small set of stairs and heads over towards the bar.

Loki gives a small laugh in return. "You should have left your armor on for that."

"Yeah, it's seen a bit of mileage. You've got the, uh, blue stick of destiny." He gestures a hand quickly over the bar. "Would you like a drink?"

Smirking slightly, Loki shakes his head, eyes never leaving their gaze on Tony. "Stalling me won't change anything."

"No, no no-just threatening." He makes his way behind the bar. "No drink? You sure? I'm having one." He grabs a tumbler and a glass before turning to the bar top, not even bothering to look at Loki.

"The Chitauri are coming, nothing will change that. What have I to fear?"

Tony shrugs slightly before dropping a few pieces of ice into the glass. He begins to pour the bourbon into the glass before answering. "The Avenger. It's what we call ourselves, 'Earth's Mightiest Heroes' type thing."

_"How much longer, Steve? I don't know how much longer I can stall."_

_"Almost there, I promise."_

Loki lets out another small, quick laugh. "Yes, I've met them."

Tony takes a sip, shrugging slightly. "Yeah, takes us a while to get any traction, I'll give you that one." He places his glass down. "But, let's do a head count here. You're brother, the Demi-god." Loki to turn away from him. Using that to his advantage, Tony slips a pair of silver bracelets onto his wrists. "A super soldier, a living legend who kind of lives up to the legend; a man with _breath-taking _anger management issues; a couple of master assassins, and you, big fella, you've managed to piss off every single one of them."

"That was the plan."

Tony grabs his glass again and steps out from behind the bar. "Not a great plan. When they come, and they will, they'll come for you."

"I have an army."

"We have a Hulk."

"Oh, I thought the beast had wandered off."

Tony smirked slightly. "Yeah- you're missing the point," he stepped closer to Loki. "There's no throne, there is no version of this, where you come out on top. Maybe your army will come and maybe it's too much for us, but it's all on you. 'Cause if we've can't protect the Earth; you can be damned well sure we'll avenge it."

Loki walked towards him, his scepter was held up and pointing at Tony.

"How will your friends have time to fight me, when they're too busy fighting you?" Loki quickly closed the space between himself and Tony, placing the tip of the scepter over his heart.

Nothing happens. He tried it again, the tip of the scepter clinking against the arc reactor.

"This usually works."

"Well, performance issues, you know—" Tony is quickly cut off as Loki grabs him, causing him to drop his glass on the floor. Loki grabs him by his throat and threw him across the room.

"JARVIS anytime now," Tony calls out as he attempts to get up from the ground.

Loki grabs Tony by the throat again, lifting him up from the ground. "You will all fall before me."

"JARVIS, deploy," Tony choked out, Loki's grip on his throat was growing tighter.

Next thing he knew, Loki had thrown him through the window, crashing through the glass, and started plummeting toward the ground.

"DEPLOY!"

_"Tony, are you okay?"_

Tony didn't have time to respond, he was free falling to the ground, desperately counting each second as it went by.

Loki smirked, but it was quickly turned into a frown as the Mark Seven comes rocketing out from behind him and out the window after Tony.

_"Tony!"_

It catches up to him, laser signals matching from the shoulders and the bracelets on Tony's wrists. It unfolds itself into a full suit, quickly covering Tony. He manages to stabilize himself before hitting the ground.

_"Sorry, I was falling of the tower without the suit, didn't have time to respond. Before you start, everything is fine. Just get here."_

Tony quickly flew back up to the broken window, looking at Loki. "And there's one other person you pissed off; his name is Phil."

Tony fired at Loki, causing the Demi-god to knock over.

The device onto of the tower powered up, shooting a blue beam of energy into the sky. The noise that followed was enough to make Tony look up. What looked to be a portal had opened up and hoards of aliens flying through and taking the skies of the city.

"Right, army," Tony whispered to himself. He flew up towards the portal shooting as many aliens he could as they came through, dodging any falling debris. He began to fly higher before he was hit with a Chitauri. He rights himself before quickly firing mini-missile.

_"The portals open, the Chitauri have already begun to come through."_

_"I know, we can see them."_

Tony turns slightly, eyes roaming for the quinjet. He turns in the direction of Grand Central Station, knowing it was the bond that pulled him in the right direction towards Steve.

A few foreign heat signatures show up on the HUD screen inside his helmet and he looks down to see Thor landing on the platform, looking at Loki.

_"Thor's here." _He sent quickly to Steve.

* * *

" ETA 15 minutes," Natasha's voice made Steve jump slightly. He looked up to see the red head looking at him.

"Thanks," he said, nodding his heads towards her.

"You can tell him you know."

Steve raised an eyebrow, giving her a confused look. "Tell who what?"

She smirked slightly before turning forward, leaving Steve with a confused look on his face. He shrugged it off and quickly sent Tony the update.

Steve thought to himself for a few minutes, trying to come up with even a base plan for when they arrived. Last Tony had told him was that Loki was definitely at the tower, but that had been it.

He turned himself more towards the two SHIELD agents in the cockpit. "I told you I'd fill you to in. After a bit of talking, Stark and I—"

"You and Stark actually had a long enough conversation to make a plan," Natasha asked, cutting Steve off and turning to him once again.

Steve licked his lips quickly before nodding. "As I was saying, Stark and I figured out Loki wanted to show that he has this army, so the world would know he wanted to rule. We both figured Stark Tower."

"You're right," Barton said. "He's planning to use a portal to allow the Chitauri to enter our world."

Steve took a deep breath before continuing. "Stark was going to go ahead and stall Loki until we got there. Now, if it does come to battle, I would like to know your strengths, if you will let me."

The SHIELD agents looked to one another quickly, nodding before returning to their original positions.

"I've got my arrows, just give me a place to fire," Barton explained.

"I'm where ever you need me," Natasha said before facing forward once more.

* * *

"Loki, turn off the Tesseract or I'll destroy it!"

"You can't. There is no stopping it. There is only the war!"

"So be it."

* * *

A video feed of Natasha pops up in the Iron Man's HUD screen. "Stark, we're on a three heading north east."

Tony let out a relieved sigh. "What, did you stop for drive-thru? Swing that park, I'm gonna lay 'em out for you."

Tony flew fast, a troop of Chitauri following him, away Stark Tower. He takes a sharp turn around the building, causing some of them to crash into each other.

"Sir, we have more incoming."

"Fine, let's keep them occupied."

* * *

Clint and Natasha pilot the quinjet towards Stark Tower, opening a continuous fire as the fly through the smoke up towards the top of the Tower. They come to a slow as they see Thor and Loki fighting on the platform.

"Nat!"

"I see 'em."

They fly around the building, still firing at the Chitauri. As they turn, one of the wings is hit by the Chitauri gunfire and the quinjet begins to lose balance. Steve grabs a hold of the roof of the jet, Clint and Natasha holding on for dear life on the controls as the quinjet grazes buildings before finally crashing to the street in front of Grand Central.

_"Are you alright?" _Tony asks through the bond.

_"Yeah I'm fine. The jet crashed, but we're all fine."_

_"Good. Stay that way."_

Steve lets himself smirk slightly as the door opens, allowing himself along with Clint and Natasha to enter the mayhem that has become the streets of New York.

"We gotta get back up there," Steve says as the three of them run onto the overpass, looking straight up at Stark Tower. They freeze slightly as a leviathan comes flying out from the portal amongst more Chitauri warriors.

"Stark, are you seeing this?" Steve asks through the team comms.

"Seeing, still working on believing," Tony responds. "Where's Banner? Has he shown up yet."

Steve tries to quickly hide his jealously threatening to make itself known over the bond at the mention of Banner. He could practically feel Tony smirking at him.

_"Don't get your spandex in a twist, we need his horse power." _

"Banner?"

"Just keep me posted," Tony demanded before quickly turning over the JARVIS' communication system. His eyes were on the leviathan.

"JARVIS, find me a soft spot."

* * *

"Look at this! Look around you! You think this madness will end with your rule?

"It's too late. It's too late to stop it."

"No. We can, together."

"Sentiment!"

* * *

Steve quickly ran over to the cab that Hawkeye and Natasha were crouched behind, allowing himself a moment to catch his breath.

"We've got civilians trapped," Clint told him as Steve looked towards him.

They all looked up as Loki flew over them on one of the Chitauri's vehicles.

"Loki," Steve mumbled.

They can hear an oncoming hoard of Chitauri from behind. Natasha stands quickly, firing both her guns at them.

Steve stretches his neck to survey the scene before turning back to the other two.

"We got this. It's good. Go!" Natasha tells him.

"You think you can hold them off?" Steve asks Clint.

"Captain, it would be my genuine pleasure."

Steve nods and gets up, leaving the other two to fight. He starts to run and jumps off the overpass, rolling on a bus before landing in the street.

* * *

"Just like Budapest all over again!"

"You and I remember Budapest very differently."

* * *

"It's gonna be an hour before they scramble the National Guard."

"National Guard!"

"Does the army know what's happening here?"

"Do we?"

* * *

"You need men in these buildings. There are people inside and they can be running right into the line of fire. You take them to the basement or through the subway, you keep them off the streets. I need a perimeter as far back as 39th."

_"For once I wish I didn't have to hit something for people to take me seriously." _

_"Some people don't realize what they really just might need is the little guy."_

Smiling to himself slightly, Steve continued to fight off the Chitauri as the police began to issue out his suggestion and orders before eventually making his way back towards Clint and Natasha.

* * *

A bolt of lightning kills the Chitauri surrounding Cap, Clint and Natasha as Thor flies down from the Tower, landing next to Steve.

"What's the story upstairs?" Steve asks.

"The power surrounding the cube impenetrable," Thor informs him.

"Thor's right," Tony's voice breaks over their ear pieces. "We gotta deal with these guys."

"How do we do this?" Natasha asks.

"As a team."

"I have unfinished business with Loki."

"Oh yeah? Get in line."

"Save it," Steve says, turning to them. "Loki's gonna keep this fight focused on us and that's what we need. Without him these things could run wild. We got Stark up top he's gonna need us to-" He cuts himself off when he hears a ratty motor noise coming from behind him. He turns and see's Bruce Banner pulling up on a motorbike.

As Steve and the others walk closer, Bruce gets off the bike and begins to surveying the damage around them.

"So, this all seems horrible."

"I've seen worse," Natasha says.

Bruce turns to look at her directly. "Sorry."

Natasha shook her said slightly, a tiny smirk upon her lips. "No we could use a little worse."

"Stark, we got him."

"Banner."

"Just like you said."

"Then tell him to suit up. I'm bringing the party to you."

They all look behind Bruce to see Tony flying towards them. Following him is the Chitauri leviathan.

"I-I don't see how that's a party," Natasha stuttered.

Tony begins to bring the creature low as he skims the road. Bruce turns away from the group, walking towards the leviathan.

"Doctor Banner, now might be a really good time to get angry."

Bruce turns towards him. "That's my secret, Cap. I'm always angry." And as Bruce turns away, his body begins to morph, increasing its size, its muscle mass and turning green. Fully transformed, the Hulk punches the leviathan, smashing it to the ground.

As it begins to slowly flip over the Hulk, Tony flies towards it. "Hold on!" Firing missiles from his gauntlets, the leviathan explodes into pieces. Natasha kneels down with Steve above her, shielding them both with his shield.

The Chitauri unleash a cry. The Hulk roars in return as Clint knocks an arrow, Thor readies Mjolnir, Natasha loads her gun, Steve holds his stance and Tony hovers, landing next to the Hulk.


	7. I Can See The Way You Hide

**Right There With You  
Author's Note: **Thank you for all the feedback on the previous chapter, any kind of feedback I get helps me improve and helps my confidence in writing. I'm sorry this wasn't posted earlier I got distracted by marathoning Criminal Minds, Breaking Bad and Lost.

**Disclaimer: **All recognizable characters belong to Marvel and their original creators. Everything else recognizable also belongs to their original owners. I do not claim to own anything; this was written for entertainment and not for money. I'm a poor Marvel fangirl; this is how I live my life.

**Notes on this chapter: **This is finally the main battle, the Avengers have been assembled and I'm pretty sure everyone knows what this chapter is going to entail. I'm hoping the fact that I'm inserting my own story into this canon that I don't mess up as much as I think I will. Again, all feedback is welcomed. Enjoy!

**Chapter 7  
I Can See The Way You Hide**

"Call it Captain."

Steve watched the portal as more Chitauri and the large Leviathans flew out. Nodding, he turned to face the rest of the Avengers.

"Alright, listen up. Until we can close that portal up, our priority is containment," he began, as turned towards them. "Barton, I want you on that roof," he told Clint, pointing to the top of a building behind them. "Eyes on everything, call out patterns and strays." Steve then turned to Tony. "Stark, you got the perimeter. Anything gets more than three blocks out, you turn it back or you turn it ash."

"_We're going to have to add some modern phrases into your vocabulary, Mister Forties."_

Steve resisted rolling his eyes and didn't reply. He watched as Clint turned to look up at Tony who was hovering a few inches above the ground. "Wanna give me a lift?"

Tony nodded slightly and grabbed the back of Clint's Kevlar vest. "Right. Better clench up, Legolas." Steve watched the two of them fly away before turning to Thor.

"Thor!" The thunder turned his head towards the captain, holding Mjolnir up at the ready. "You've got the lightning, light the bastards up." He watched Thor as he swung Mjolnir and flew off, landing on the top of the Chrysler building. Storm clouds gathered around, a bolt of lightning was summoned and then aimed towards the portal, taking out Chitauri warriors and a Leviathan.

Steve then turned to Natasha who looked ready to follow an order he gave. "You and me, we stay here on the ground, keep the fighting here," she nodded as he turned behind him to face Hulk. "And Hulk!"

Steve didn't even flinch as Hulk quickly snapped around to face him. All Steve was point and said a single word.

"Smash!"

Hulk grinned at him before leaping off down the road, jumping from building to building, quickly taking out as many Chitauri as he could with one large hand. Steve even held back a grin as he watched Hulk leap from a building, knocking one of the flying crafts out of the air.

* * *

Tony snuck one more glance at Steve before he grabbed the back of Barton's uniform and quickly brought him to the top of the building. There was a mutual nod of thanks between the two and Tony had then flown off towards the portal, taking out as many Chitauri on the way that he could.

"_You remember our plan right?" _He asked Steve. He had hoped that the other couldn't feel the worry through their bond; he wanted to hide until he knew the two of them are safe.

"_Of course,"_ was Steve's quick reply. _"Respond to the other, whether it is through bond or comms, right?"_

Tony smirked slightly to himself before replying. "_Yes, perfect. I promised, you promised. Just don't make me worried okay? I'm not used to all these feelings yet."_

He could feel the warmth of love coming through the bond from Steve and that was enough to keep him focused.

"_Stay safe."_

"_You too."_

* * *

"Sir. The Council is on."

* * *

Tony flew as fast as the suit could take him, trying to get away from the Chituari that were mobbing up behind him.

"Stark, you gotta lot of strays sniffing your tail," he heard Barton's voice come through on the team comms.

"Just…trying to keep them off the streets," Tony replied.

"Well, they can't bank worth a damn," Tony smirked slightly when heard the smug tone in Clint's voice.

"I will roger that," he said as he flew by Hawkeye. He was impressed by the archer as each aim hit its target and left a satisfying explosion behind. He continued as he took a series of quick turns. The Chitauri behind him quickly dropped, crashed or continued to follow him.

After quickly looking behind him to see how many were left, he spotted a tunnel slightly in front of him. "Oh-boy," he mumbled as he flew through it, taking a tight turn at the end which sent the last of the Chitauri behind him into the side of a building.

Pleased, he went back to Barton of the comms. "Nice call. What else you got?"

"Well, Thor's taking a squadron down on 6th," was the reply.

Tony raised an eyebrow, turning to make his way towards 6th street. "And he didn't invite me!"

* * *

"_Doing okay down there?"_ Tony's voice quickly filled Steve's. He grunted slightly as he decapitated a Chitauri using his shield.

"_Just peachy," _he responded, turning around and taking out another Chitauri. He saw an opening and stepped forward, throwing his shield at just the right angel, it bounced between two overturned cars as it made its way through a horde of Chitauri and returned to Steve's hand like a boomerang.

"_Let's stay that way," _he smiled slightly as Tony's order as he turned to survey the area around him.

As he turned towards Grand Central, he saw Natasha thrown onto a car. He was impressed when she hit the attacking Chitauri with her Widow's Bite, shocking it out. She launched herself from the car and grabbed a Chitauri gun, shooting other warriors in the back.

Steve had taken the time to make his way downs towards and quickly jumped behind her. He remained still as she turned towards him; the Chitauri weapon was aimed at him. He waited as she realized who it was and took that moment to stand down and lean against the closest car.

"Captain, none of this is gonna mean a damn thing if we don't close that portal," she said, both of them turned to face Stark Tower.

Steve took that moment to catch his breath. "Our biggest guns couldn't touch it," he said, panting slightly.

"Well, maybe it's not about guns."

"You wanna get up there, you're gonna need a ride."

He shot a questioning glance towards Black Widow. Steve watched as Natasha turned towards him and looked behind. He followed her eyes and spotted a group of Chitauri on their flying crafts heading their way.

Cap quickly stole a look at Natasha who returned with a nod, being used a quiet, mutual understanding between the two of them.

"I got a ride; I could use a boost though."

Steve held the shield in front of him as he took a few steps back towards the wall, and looked to Natasha who had made her way towards the other side of the overpass.

"You sure about this?" he asked.

Natasha glanced up before looking back to him and nodded. "Yeah, it's going to be fun."

Steve readied himself as Natasha ran towards him. She quickly boosted herself with the side of the car before she jumped onto Cap's shield. He thrusted the shield up and watched in amazement as Natasha grabbed onto the end of a Chitauri vehicle passing overhead.

A swarm of Chitauri had quickly made their way towards Steve and he repositioned himself, fighting each of them as they got closer to him.

* * *

"Turn, turn, Ah!"

* * *

"_You weren't supposed to be by yourself,"_ Tony's voice said as he saw a blur of red and gold arriving out of the corner of his eye.

Steve didn't reply. He quickly dodged an oncoming attack from a Chitauri and held his shield in front of him as Tony fired the repulsors, the vibranium being used as a reflector and they took our the swarm around Steve together.

"_Thanks!" _Steve sent as he saw Tony fly up towards Hawkeye. He then noticed as more Chitauri were making their way towards him. They were easily taken out, unfortunately one hand been in his blind spot and had knocked him to the ground, its gun trained on him. Steve quickly knocked it away and brought down the Chitauri before standing up.

"Captain, the bank on 42nd, past Madison. They cornered a lot of civilians in there," Clint called through the comms.

Steve turned himself in that direction for responding. "I'm on it."

He quickly made his way towards the bank. After he reached the bank, he stole a look inside, seeing the group of people herded into the middle, a group of Chitauri stood above on the second floor with their weapons aimed toward the civilians.

Steve looked around and quickly devised a way to get inside. He climbed up a nearby traffic lamp, and propelled himself through the window and rolled to a stop before he began to fight. He quickly took the Chitauri down and snapped the final ones neck before he threw the body into the pit.

Cap stepped closer to the rail around the pit and gestured toward the doors. "Everyone clear out!"

He was then grabbed from behind, but he quickly fought back and broke free. Grabbing his shield, he watched as a grenade was thrown into the room and exploded. Steve was blasted out the window and landed on a nearby abandoned car.

"_Steve? Steve! What happened? Are you alright?"_ Tony's voice came through the bond and it wasn't hard for him to feel the amount of worry and anger that Tony was releasing through the shared wave length. Steve didn't respond as he pushed himself up from the car and tried to roll over. He winced as pieces of glass fell from his suit. He rolled off the car groaning slightly as he stood up.

"_God dammit, Steve! Answer me now!" _

Steve pulled his cowl off and watched silently as the police lead the civilians away from the bank.

"_I'm fine!" _He responded, but knew Tony didn't believe it. With the bond there was no way for Steve to hide anything.

"_Bull shit. You promised!"_

Steve sighed before responding. "_I may have landed on a car?"_

"_What!?"_

"_A foreign grenade blasted me out of the bank's window on a car. That is something they don't teach you in the army."_

He could almost feel the dark chuckle he heard Tony give. _"Damn right soldier, now what hurts? And don't lie to me, you know I can tell."_

"_My arms probably from the glass, there's a few gashes on my face which are most likely already healing. The worst will probably be whatever happened to my ribcage," _Steve explained as he gingerly wrapped one arm around his middle.

"_Just be more careful? Please? I just got you; I don't want to lose you." _The raw emotion almost threw Steve but he smiled.

"_Just promise me the same?"_

"_Roger."_

* * *

"Director Fury. The council has made a decision…"

"I recognize the council has made a decision, but given it's a stupid ass decision, I've elected to ignore it."

"Director, you're closer than any of our sub, you scramble that jet—"

"That is the island of Manhattan, Councilman. Until I' certain my team can't hold it, I will not order a nuclear strike against a civilian population."

"If we don't hold them in the air, we lose everything."

"I'd send that bird out, we already have."

* * *

"Oh you! Hawkeye!"

"Nat, what are you doing?"

"Uh, a little help!"

"I got him."

* * *

"Enough! You are, all of you, beneath me! I am a GOD, you dull creature and I will NOT be bullied by-"

"Puny god."

* * *

"The scepter."

"Doctor."

"Loki's scepter, the energy—the Tesseract can't find. You can't protect against yourself."

"It's not your fault. You didn't know what you were doing."

"Well, actually I think I did. I built in a safety to cut the power source."

"Loki's scepter."

"It may be able to close the portal. And I'm looking right at it."

* * *

Tony watched as Thor fought through the Chitauri and landed on one of their flying crafts before a Leviathan plowed its way through the building in front of him. Tony made his way towards it and shot at it using the suits lasers.

"Sir, we will lose power before we penetrate that shell," JARVIS explained. Tony pulled away from the Leviathan and flew as fast as he could.

"JARVIS, you ever hear the tale of Jonah?"

"I wouldn't consider him a role model."

Tony smirked as he turned towards the Leviathan. JARVIS opened the knee plates of the suit and pushed out the blades. Tony flew directly towards the Leviathan's mouth. He tore up its insides and blew out it's tail end. He crashed to the ground with a small grunt.

"_I thought we made a promise?" _

Tony snorted before responding. _"Sorry dear, flying through a giant alien equivalent to a whale has always been a dream."_

Tony quickly got up from the ground and onto his feet but only to be shot down again the Chitauri warriors.

The Hulks roars echoed and Tony winced. JARVIS checked over the suit, he ran diagnostics trying to find what parts were damaged and could be a hazard.

* * *

"Director Fury is no longer in command. Override seven-alpha-one-one."

"Seven-alpha-one-one confirmed. We're go for takeoff."

"Sir, we have a bird in motion!"

"Anyone on the deck we have a rogue bird. We need to shut it down! Repeat, take off is not authorized!"

"Stark, you hear me? You have a missile headed straight for the city."

"Three minutes. Max. Stay load can wipe out mid-town."

* * *

"Package is sent. Detonation in two minutes, thirty seconds. Mark."

* * *

Steve and Thor had ended up teaming together to fight the Chitauri who were still on the ground. Almost simultaneously, Cap caught his shield as Mjolnir returned to Thor's hand as the two stood back to back. Steve heard a Chitauri call from his left and turned but was shot in the stomach before he had a chance to react. He fell to the ground.

"_Steve, what the hell happened now? I'm starting to think you're not listening to me. Steve?"_

Steve paused to catch his breath, but quickly ducked his head when Thor sent a car flying over his head towards the Chitauri. _"Sorry, one of them got me. I'm fine. It smarts, I promise I'm fine."_

He got up on his knees and examined mark on his stomach. The Chitauri weapon had managed to singe away his suit, leaving behind an angry red, bleeding mark above his left hipbone.

"_When this is all over, we're having a conversation about the word 'fine.'" _

Steve didn't respond and winced as he pulled his hands away from the wound. He looked up and saw the thunder god holding a hand out to him. Steve grasped his hand and let out a shaky breath as Thor helped to his feet.

He watched as Thor glanced at the mark before looking back to the face of the Captain. "You ready for another bout?"

Steve let out another deep breath before he looked over at Thor. "What, you getting' sleepy?" that earned him a small smile.

* * *

A call from Fury came over the lines and Tony quickly responded. "How long?"

He waited for a reply.

"JARVIS, put everything we got into the thrusters."

"I just did."

Tony blasted away from the remaining Chitauri warriors surrounding him and he flew off elsewhere.

"_Steve, I'm sorry."_

* * *

"Right at the crown!"

"I can close it. Can anybody copy I can shut the portal down!"

"Do it!"

* * *

"_Steve, I'm sorry."_

"No, wait!"

"_Sorry for what?"_

"I got a nuke coming in, it's gonna blow in less than a minute."

Steve looked up and saw Tony fly overhead, hands holding onto each side of the missile, trying to redirect it from its original course.

"_What, what are you doing?" _Steve swallowed slightly as he watched Tony get closer and closer to the portal. _"You don't need to do this, please." _Flashes from his last minutes on Schmidt's plane popped in Steve's head. This was way too familiar and he knew it definitely shouldn't be happening to Tony.

"_You know, I know you know that this is the only way."_

Tony wasn't trying to hold back any emotion from the bond. Steve was overwhelmed with the regret, the fear and the love. He tried to blink back tears and hold his voice steady.

"Stark, you know that's a one way trip."

"Save the rest for the turn J."

"Sir, shall I try Miss Potts?"

"No, she doesn't need to hear this."

"Very well sir."

* * *

"Streets in New York City have become a battle ground. The army is here trying to contain the violence but clearly it is outmatch—"

"….Billionaire Tony Stark's Iron Man—"

* * *

Steve holds back a whimper as he watches both Tony and the missile disappear behind the portal.

"_Just always know that I love you."_

"_Tony, please, let go now."_

"_Steve I-"_

* * *

Tony flew through the portal, regret and fear overtaking him. The lights of the Iron Man suit flickered on and off before they finally turned off. With wide eyes, he watched as he let go of the missile and it flew into the Chitauri mother ship.

"_Tony, talk to me please. I love you, please, just hold on."_

Tony tried to respond, but he found that he couldn't. He closed his eyes and felt himself begin to fall. And that was last he knew.

* * *

"Come on, Stark."

A new feeling had overcome Steve as he watched the Chitauri all fall, the missile had obviously done what Tony had intended to. He began to wonder if this is the feeling that his mother had mentioned; the feeling of being able to feel the bond even though you know they've…passed on. He looked up at the portal once more before looking down to the ground and giving Natasha a final order.

"Close it."

He looked back up and watched as the portal began to close. His eyes quickly widened when he saw Tony reappear before it finally closed and disappeared.

He let out a small smile. "Son of a gun." It quickly turned to a frown as he noticed that Tony wasn't stopping.

"He's not slowing down," he heard Thor mumble and watched as the thunder god prepare himself to fly to Tony. He jumped as the Hulk jumped out from a building and grabbed Tony from the air, cradling him to his chest as he slid down the front a building and landed on the ground in front of Thor and himself.

Steve ran over with Thor behind him as Hulk placed Iron Man on the ground.

"_Tony can you hear me?" _There was no response as Steve knelt down next to him. Thor quickly ripped off the face plat and threw it aside as Steve listened for a heartbeat. He pulled away and realized that the arc reactor is not glowing.

"_Please Tony. Please don't go somewhere I can't follow. I don't want to be alone in a world I don't know, a world that doesn't have you."_

He jumped as the Hulk suddenly let out a large roar and hit his chest. Steve smiled as Tony's eyes snapped open, let out a gasp and quickly looked around.

"What the hell? What just happened? Please tell me nobody kissed me," he said as he turned his head towards Steve.

"_It's okay if you kissed me but that wasn't exactly how I planned to tell them."_

"We won," Steve told him out loud, grinning.

Tony let out a relieved sigh. "Alright. Hey. Alright. Good job, guys. Let's not come in tomorrow. Let's just a take a day."

"_A day or a year. I'm not going anywhere soon."_

Steve couldn't stop grinning.

"You ever tried Shawarma? There's a Shawarma joint about two blocks from here. I don't know what it is, but I wanna try it."

Thor let out an amused chuckle and smirked, his eyes looking towards Stark tower. "We're not finished yet."

Steve followed his glance and nodded, looking back to Tony.

"And then Shawarma after?"


	8. All The Things You Keep Inside

Right There With You

Author's Note: I am so sorry that this took as long as it did. I was just so stuck on this part because I wanted it to be perfect and then I got distracted by writing Criminal Minds.

Notes on this chapter: This is the final chapter. It's not the end of the story though. I was originally planning to end this when it reached the end of the movie. The sequel, which will be posted within a few days of this being posted, will pick up from the end of The Avengers and dive into more of Tony and Steve's story.

Disclaimer: All recognizable characters belong to Marvel and their original creators. Everything else recognizable also belongs to their original owners. I do not claim to own anything; this was written for entertainment and not for money. I'm a poor Marvel fangirl; this is how I live my life.

**Chapter 8**

**All The Things You Keep Inside**

"If it's all the same to you, I think I'll have that drink now."

SHIELD had met them at the top of Stark Tower, both agents and medics. The agents properly bound Loki and led him to a waiting quinjet.

The medics had immediately accessed both Natasha and Barton's injuries. Nothing too major. There was no reason to look over Thor. Nothing was too serious, all he really had was the small stab wound in his stomach. Bruce was completely fine, the change back from the other guy to himself leaving him exhausted.

Tony and Steve were the ones who were being checked over the most, injuries easily displayed.

_"For falling from another dimension, I'm surprisingly not that harmed,"_ Tony sent to Steve, quickly making eye contact with the man across from him.

_"Anything serious?"_

_"Multiple lacerations from crashing in the suit, a concussion and a few other small things. Nothing I'm not used to."_

The medic cleared Tony, recommending pain management. After thanking the man, Tony sent a quick glance Steve's way before turning and making his way towards his bedroom.

_"So, what's the damage?"_ He asked as he stepped into his closet and changed.

_"3 broken ribs from landing on the car. They've already set and wrapped them, should be healed in a few hours. Some lacerations here and there, the biggest thing is the blast I got in the stomach. Considering it was done by alien technology, they're unsure of how long it will take to heal."_

_"Are you clear to go?_" Tony asked as he made his way back to the group. The feelings of anger, guilt and protection radiated through him.

_"Don't."_

_"Don't what?"_

_"You're projecting. Do not feel guilty, please."_

Tony smiled, the feeling of love that projecting back from Steve helped him calm down. Quickly replacing his poker face, he stepped back into the room holding the rest of the Avengers.

"So how about that Shwarma?"

* * *

Twenty minutes later they found themselves in the Shwarma closest to the tower. When they had arrived, the employees were trying to clean up the damage from the battle and went to turn them away. After recognizing Stark, they quickly welcomed them.

After ordering their food, they sat down at the remaining table. Bruce and Steve on the ends, Thor and Tony next to each other across from Barton and Romanoff.

No one said anything. Tony had finished his sandwich and was leaning back in his chair, his mind going over what had happened through the day. Thor was making his way through his second or third sandwich, seeming to have tuned out the other people surrounding him.

Clint and Natasha was turned in towards one another while Bruce slowly made his way through his order.

Glancing down towards the end of the table, Tony had to bite his cheek to prevent himself from smiling.

Steve had his right arm propped up on the table, head resting on top of his fist. His sandwich was half eaten and still sitting in the basket in front of him. His eyes were slightly open but every few seconds they'd close before and quickly open again.

_"Someone's tired,"_ Tony teased.

Steve shot him a quick glance. _"It happens."_

Nothing else was said as they waited for the others to finish their food.

"So where do we go from here?" Banner had asked.

"I think I can answer that," a voice said from behind them. They all turned as they saw Nick Fury walk into the restaurant. No one said anything, waiting for the man to speak.

"First, I would like to say what you guys managed today was amazing and everyone should be appreciative to all of you. Second, our first priority is to handle Loki."

"What is going to happen with my brother?" Thor asked. "Surely he can not be punished on Midgard as he's from Asgard."

"We know that. We were waiting to speak to you about that, so when we're done here I would like to request you return to headquarters with me?" Thor nodded.

"What about the rest of us, Nikki?" Tony asked. He smirked when he saw the one-eyed glare in response.

"That's up to you."

"What do you mean?" Clint asked.

"Until we have finalized the plans to deal with Loki, you're free to do as you please. You'll be recalled once everything is set." He looked around the table and nodded. "I'll leave you here then. Mr. Odinson, if you will?" Thor stood from the table and followed Fury out, leaving the other five to figure out what to do.

Tony pulled on the bond to get Steve's attention since the soldier look dangerously close to falling asleep. "Come on Cap, wake up. I'm not going to be able to carry you without the suit."

_"What do you need?"_

_"I'm going to suggest you come back to the tower with me, fight it a little though alright?"_

_"Roger."_

"So, what are plans for you lovely assassins?" Tony asked.

Clint raised an eyebrow in amusement. "Like we're going to tell you, Stark." He stood up, Natasha following him and they made their way out. "See you in a few days," Natasha threw over his shoulder and the two left.

"What about you, Bruce? If their untouched, the R&D floors make a great stress relief."

Bruce looked at him and shook his head. "No, I'm fine. Really. I just need a few days to figure things out."

"Then you can do that in my Tower, same goes for you Capiscle," Tony teased, turning towards the other man.

"No thanks, Stark, I've got my apartment in Brooklyn. I'm fine."

Tony shook his head. "Sorry, I don't like being said no to, so you're coming with me."

"Tony, I couldn't possibly-"

"Yes you can. Plus you need more clothes. I have stuff in your size, so don't worry," Tony said, grinning.

Bruce sighed and then turned towards Steve. "I will if Steve does." Steve looked from Tony to Bruce a few times.

"Fine," he said as sat up straight, wincing slightly. He moved his arm to wrap around the spot on his stomach where he was hit from the Chitauri blaster.

"You alright?" Bruce asked.

Steve nodded. "Yeah, it just hurts a little. Just not healing the way everything else does."

"_That better be it_," Tony sent him, resisting the urge to go over and hug the man.

_"Don't worry,"_ Steve sent back, trying to reassure his bonded.

"I could check it more for you when we get to the tower," Bruce told him as the three of them stood up.

"That would be appreciated, Doctor."

They arrived back at the tower an hour later. Tony left Banner and Steve sitting at the bar while he won't to grab the first aid kid, some clothes and a few other things that Bruce had requested.

_"Has anything changed?_" Tony asked as he shifted through some cabinets.

_"It doesn't feel any better but it doesn't feel any worse. That's a good thing, right?"_

_"Yes. I should've up in a few minutes,_" Tony responded, chucking slightly.

As he reentered the room, Bruce was slowly cutting Steve out of his uniform top. As he walked closer, Tony could see that they had a managed to get most if off. It was also the first time Tony got to see the mark on Steve's stomach.

"I got the stuff you wanted, Banner," Tony announced as he stepped up and placed everything on the bar.

Murmuring a quick "Thanks", Bruce opened the first aid kit, pulling out a pair of gloves and scissors. He quickly began to cut away the rest of Steve's uniform and the under amour. Steve hissed slightly as the fabric was pulled away.

"Jesus Capsicle," Tony said in a hard whisper as his eyes glanced over Steve's chest. His entire chest was covered in small lacerations which also seemed to continue onto his back. There were large bruises fading to dark purple and yellows. The chitauri blast took up a majority of the area above his ledger hip.

"_It's not as bad as it looks_." Steve told him, wincing as Banner carefully put light pressure on the both the bruises and the chitauri blast.

"This should've healed already," Banner mumbled as he taped a bandage on the wound. "Everything else has."

Steve shrugged. "That depends on a number of things"

"Like what?" Tony asked.

"Anything from exhaustion to hunger."

"It's probably a mixture of both," Bruce deduced and smiled at the curious look Steve was giving him. "I know your file better than I know most people. You require almost fourteen thousand calories a day to keep up with your metabolism. I'm also sure you haven't been sleeping much since they found you in the ice?"

Steve knew it was a rhetorical question and remained quiet.

_"That's something we're definitely discussing later,"_ Tony told him, Steve holding back the smile when he felt the annoyance seeping through the bond.

"I'm prescribing sleep and a lot of food when you wake up. That should be easy," Bruce teased slightly.

"Okay Jolly Green Giant and Uncle Sam, follow me your generous host as I lead you to your chambers of slumber"

Bruce snorted as he and Steve followed Tony to the elevator. "Where to, sir?" A posh-voice came from the speaker system, causing both Bruce and Steve to jump.

Tony laughed and turned towards them. "Sorry about, should've warned you. Say, hi JARVIS!"

"Pleasure to meet you Captain Rogers and Doctor Banner."

"What is that?" Steve asked, feeling slightly nervous and confused.

"Calm down," Tony told him before verbally responding. "JARVIS is my AI, runs the house, the suit. Basically everything. Guest rooms a few floors down."

"Right away," and JARVIS' voice disappeared as a number showed up in the light display above the elevator doors and the elevator began to move. A few moments later, there was a ding and the doors opened.

"And here is your stop, Doctor Banner. There are three bedrooms on this floor, two full bathrooms and a kitchen. If you need anything, just call JARVIS and he can get to me."

Bruce smiled and nodded as he stepped out onto the floor. "Night guys!" He said yawning, waving as the doors closed.

"My floor JARVIS!"

As the elevator moved again, Tony and Steve instantly wrapped their arms around one another. Both squeezed as their bodies melted together.

"This makes me feel so much better," Tony mumbled into Steve's chest, grinning when he felt the love, passion and desire seep through the wavelengths of the bond. "Holding you, knowing you're here."

Steve emotionally relaxed and blocked out all the other feelings as he held Tony to himself as tight as he could. "I was so scared. So scared," Steve whispered into Tony's shoulder.

As the elevator dinged and the door to Tony's floor opened again, Tony took Steve's hand in his own and pulled him towards his own bedroom. Neither said anything, nothing needed to be said.

Tony opened the door and turned on the light, pulling Steve towards the bed.

"Tony- I-"

Tony quickly cut him off with a kiss. "Don't worry," he whispered as he pulled away and held onto Steve's face with both of his hands. "I know you're not ready, when the time comes, we'll both feel it."

Steve nodded and let Tony guide him to sitting down. "All we're going to do tonight is sleep, possibly talk, but mostly sleeping, okay?" Tony asked.

Steve nodded again and gave Tony a small smile, causing the other man to grin in return.

The two moved in sync as they scooted back to the head of the bed. Tony pushed some pillows around and sat against the headboard. He gently pulled Steve closer so that the soldier's head was resting on his shoulder.

Immediately feeling the fear from Steve, Tony squeezed a little tighter. "You're going to be fine, it's okay to fall asleep. When you wake up, I'll be right here with you," he whispered.

Steve began to relax and fell asleep almost instantly, Tony quickly following.

They were recalled the next morning.

Both Steve and Tony had slept through the night. Peaceful, no nightmares and extremely happy to be alive.

When they received the call, the two of them quickly designed a plan on what was to happen after they saw Thor off. Tony had immediately offered Steve one of his dad's bikes and Tony would be driving himself and Bruce there.

Before leaving, Bruce had informed them that he would be returning to Calcutta after promising Tony that he would return. Tony would drop him off at JFK before returning to the tower to meet Steve.

The Avengers met in Central Park, Selvig bringing the tessteract with them. They made a circle around the bound Loki and Thor. A silent thankful and departing look was given to each before Loki and Thor disappeared back to Asgard.

For show, Steve walked over to Tony and shook his hand, giving the Avengers the idea that the two had settled their differences.

They all spoke for a few minutes, congratulating one another, thanked them for the teamwork and all set their own ways.

Natasha and Clint disappeared in a SHIELD model car heading to who knows where. Bruce climbed in next to Tony and they made their way to the airport as Steve got on his bike and drove away.

_"Meet you at the tower in an hour?"_ Tony asked.

_"I just need to as JARVIS right?"_

_"Yes, just step in the elevator, he'll direct you where to go."_

_"I love you."_

"I love you, too".

* * *

"They've gone their separate ways, some pretty extremely far. We get into a situation like this again, what happens next?"

"They'll come back."

"Really sure about that?"

"I am."

"Why?"

"Because we'll need them to."

* * *

END.

Author's Note: This is the end, holy crap. I would like to thank all the lovely reviewers, to all the favorites and follows. Everyone who read this story, thank you so much! The sequel, Fade Into Me, should be up in a few days! Thank you all, again!


End file.
